the colors of your light
by Aiko Isari
Summary: As November of 2009 ends and December begins, Hikari goes to America for a brief abroad opportunity. There, she meets Wallace's quiet roommate. As her work continues and the girl slowly unravels in response to a nasty digital world curse, Hikari begins to question what it really means to share bonds with others and whether it's really the darkness that she should worry about.
1. Chapter 1: The End of November

**Chapter One: The End of November** (Sunrise)

 _November 30_ _th_ _, 2009_

 _Odaiba, Japan_

"It's a rare opportunity. Look a little proud already!"

It was hard to take her brother seriously when he said things like that, especially now as he held a pair of scissors in his hand. Yagami Hikari crossed her fingers that he wouldn't cut himself and went back to folding the thickest clothes she could find. "Yesssss," she eventually replied, feeling his eyes, ever reproachful, on her back. "It doesn't take away from that fact that New York is going to be freezing, Onii-chan. I've only been there in the summer."

"Well… true." He scoffed playfully at her and went back to the onerous task of trimming his hair. He had a date after all. "But that's no reason to look like your mouth is goin' to fall off from frowning too much. Don't want to learn from Yamato too much, right?"

Hikari tried not to make a comment about an entire summer where Taichi had imitated Yamato so thoroughly it had caused him and the blond to fight without saying a single word. She tried very hard indeed. "Mm," she grunted instead, picking through her old hats. "I'm letting you use my mirror for free to take out Meiko-san," she noted with a loose little grin that she knew he could see. "I could always add some extra help if you keep this up… like a buzz on the back of your head."

His eyes went wide, but he didn't do what most siblings would and say she wouldn't do it. Because she would. They both knew that. "Yeah, don't. Mom will want to know how you do it."

Hikari laughed, feeling her shoulders slump a little as she found her last pair of woolen socks. "Can't be helped I found the one razor that doubles as a miniature lawn mower."

Taichi scoffed a little and took to the scissors again. "You really think it's fine to cut my hair?" His voice quivered, not with that big overwhelming uncertainty, but the quiet kind that tended to be locked up in his head for a good few hours (days, weeks, who was keeping track?) until someone else smacked it out of him. If he thought about it for that long. "I mean, I don't want to look like a try-hard or-"

Hikari turned from her packing and went to hug him from behind. "Meiko-san is going to love your hair no matter what. And so will your job interviewers. Don't worry." She stepped back and went to squeeze her bag shut. "You should be worrying about me a little bit. I'll be in Wallace's apartment for a month while he visits his mother."

"Are we even sure his mother is real?" Taichi dipped the comb in the nearby water cup again as Hikari began poking through her toiletries. "How do we know that he uses that as an excuse to go date another girl?"

Hikari raised an eyebrow. "Onii-chan, he's not interested in me."

Taichi shook his head. "I dunno. Just cause he's dating Mimi does not mean he wouldn't be poking at you."

Hikari blinked at him, zipping up her bag and using the most innocuous voice she could manage, asked, "What makes you say that?"

Like the last time she had asked that Taichi sputtered for an answer. She turned away to keep packing. She knew Daisuke had just said way too many negative things about the other boy. Otherwise, her brother would be fine. He regularly let her handle the odd looks of her soccer team, after all. There was nothing more awkward than that.

Letting him ramble on for a bit more (making sure to nod in understanding at the right places), allowed her to think of the piece of paper on her backpack.

It was an attempt, albeit a rocky one, to connect humans and Digimon via the classroom. As the years passed, the predictions had gone wrong. After the events in 2005, an influx of Digimon had begun to flow to the human world, searching, as their partners had, for companions. There was no stopping it. There was only accepting it. After all, they were easy to hate until they became a part of your life.

As one of the Chosen Children, one of the oldest, Hikari knew she had to help bridge the gap somehow. This was the best opportunity she could think of, as a future teacher. It was also a little too neatly dropped into her lap.

(Perhaps it was Himekawa-san's way of assisting and repenting? She wasn't quite sure and she didn't want to ask.)

Hikari sighed. That stopped Taichi's monologue which had turned to the weird obsession people had with ties in the minute or so since she had zoned out. "I can't even market this to myself," she said with a groan, flopping forward onto the bed.

Taichi almost snorted. "Well, Hikari, I hate to tell you this but everything's already paid for. Including Mom's gift requests."

"I know..." She sighed. "Well, can't be any more of a culture shock than the Digital World." She crawled onto her bed and went to take a nap. It was a fourteen-hour flight and she was not prepared to come in and not crash on the floor.

"Don't preen at that for too long, okay?" she told him, head face first in the pillow.

Whatever he said, she didn't hear, because like Tailmon, she always found it easy to doze.

There was nothing to worry about with this trip. It would just be a good experience, and very helpful for entering college in a few short months. This would almost be good for her.

So why did she feel so sick to her stomach?

* * *

When she opened her eyes to the gray sand and the dull water washing over her socks, she was not afraid. Hikari wasn't sure why exactly. This place was not welcoming, nor had it ever done anything particularly kind or good for her. Regardless, for whatever reason, she was here when she was supposed to be sleeping. There had to be a reason.

Hikari swallowed and watched the waves. She walked along the shoreline.

"There are no seashells here," she realized after a while. Come to think of it, had there ever been? Any seashells? Sand dollars? Crabs? Did seaweed wash up on shore? There didn't even seem to be any jagged rocks.

"I like a clean beach," said a soft voice.

Hikari spun, reaching for a Digivice she belatedly realized she didn't have with her."Who-who are you?" She faced a boy, one who looked to be barely Iori-kun's age, if that.

The boy brushed the gray fabric about his shoulders. "You don't recognize me?" He paused, then laughed a little as he smoothed his seemingly fluffy dark hair. "Never mind, you wouldn't. We haven't actually met." He sighed, twirling almost blueish fingers in the air for a moment. When Hikari didn't relax, he elaborated, "You would know me as the master of those dark creatures, right?" As Hikari's panic turned into horror, he bowed. "I'm really sorry about them. They acted without permission. They won't be harming you again."

Hikari's shoulders did not ease, but she didn't quite feel as tempted to run screaming for her loved ones again. Not immediately anyway. "How can I trust you?"

The boy blinked, then laughed. "Well, to be honest, you can't. We're opposing forces. I'm only in this form so I don't get caught."

"Caught." Hikari edged back slightly. "By who?"

The boy's smile made the image of slime and tentacles flicker into her mind. Then they vanished. "Well, I am a minor chaotic being by their standards. Supposedly. So those creatures tend to leave me alone. For the most part anyway. So, I'm here to talk to you so those supposedly higher beings don't see me and catch a whiff of what's been happening lately." He raised crimson eyes to look at her. "You see, there's a girl out in your world who did a very good deed. She slaughtered the nigh invulnerable. Which was quite good because as of late they'd been acting a fair bit peculiar. But, you see." He snapped his fingers and the breeze chilled. "By natural law that was a mistake. There are some things in the universe that cannot be written out. So she paid a price, and now someone wants to make her pay one more."

He paused and for a moment, red rested upon red, through it, into the clouds of a sunset and into pain. "Please save her." His voice shrank to a whisper. "I know that old fool has forgotten, but that child is a good girl. She doesn't deserve what's coming for you all." The boy looked to the sea. "You're going to where she is. Please, I know we are not well met, but..." He shook his head and the cold wind picked up speed and force, pushing at Hikari like she was nothing more than a leaf.

She shut her eyes to it and opened them to see Taichi shaking her and her back unusually sore.

Hikari rubbed her eyes and stared for a moment. Then the dream words came back to her and she frowned.

"What could disturb something with those for minions?" What disturbed the ruler of another dimension that it would reach out to humans for help?

Hikari hoped for a moment that it was a dream and she was not in much danger. But Hikari was no fool. She never just dreamed, and she was always in danger.

* * *

 **A/N:** Oops. This is my nano fic, started slightly early to handle me wanting it done in two months. No clue how that's gonna go. Anyway. Please leave a review if you can! It really means a lot to me.

Challenges: Diversity Writing (Digimon) L1. Write a fic with chapters under 2000 words, Gameverse Boot Camp prompt 'punish', AU Diversity Boot Camp prompt - protect (expanded universe!AU), Pairing Diversity Boot Camp prompt 8 - stolen (Hikari/Sayo), Chapter Set Boot Camp prompt - 64, Multiple POVs Challenge, Prompts In Steps 5.9 problematic, Valentine Advent 2015. write from a female character's POV, Valentine Advent 2016 day 25. write about the consequences of a character's actions, Epic Masterclass Story list number 10. wild card, and Halloween Countdown Challenge.


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning of December

**Chapter Two: The Beginning of December** (Moonrise)

 _November 30_ _th_ _, 2009_

 _Brooklyn, New York_

Pulling her purple hair back into the dubious safety of her coat, Sayo gave her umbrella one last shake before giving up. She retracted it, swinging it by the strap about her wrist and staring up at the sky. She scowled at the thunderheads, which gave her the impression that they were scowling right back. With a sigh, she tapped her black boots to get rid of some of the water and entered her apartment complex with a scoff. Swiping her card in, she managed to give a smile to a passing neighbor.

"Still raining cats and dogs out there, huh, Sayo?" asked the woman, thankfully barely pronouncing her name right. Sayo tilted her head a little and managed a polite nod.

"Mm, it's pretty bad out there." She ran her olive fingers over the elevator buttons as she stepped inside. "Please take care tonight, it's starting to be really chilly."

"Starting?" the woman let out a breathless laugh. "You young people and your good body heat. It's been cold since October. The only thing is the lack of snow. Take care now!"

The door closed as she gave her farewell. Only then did Sayo relax with a grunt. She slumped against the wall of the elevator and her shoes gave an ugly squelch. She looked up, coat dripping, skirt bunched, and waited. It was what her life had consisted of for the past three months or more. What was a little longer?

She squirmed in place and grimaced. Yeah, whatever with the philosophical crap. She wanted out of these wet clothes before someone saw her and made a note about something they shouldn't be thinking about, the little perverts.

Damn the thunderstorm anyway. Rained all through her classes and her walk to work at her job and just… damn them. She spun her house keycard. This wasn't even bike-riding weather. As she passed by her neighbor's door, she noted the distinct lack of _noise._ She frowned, puzzled. Then her purple eyes flickered. "Oh, right… he said he was having someone watch his flat while he visited his mom for the holiday or something… coincidence after coincidence..."

She wasn't sure if she quite believed in those, so she let well enough alone and unlocked her door. "I'm back," she called into the studio apartment. She never knew if a friend would come calling. And sure enough, her 'living room' (if you could really have a living room in a New York studio apartment the size of half a train boxcar long and two wide) was lit up and the sofa had a familiar occupant lounging on the arm. Koh waved lazily, not looking up from his game.

Well, she expected that. "You beat me back." Without hesitation, she began to shed her layers of clothes, dangling them over the hatstand that Koh himself had carved her when they had turned thirteen in exchange for a set of glassware. Off went the drenched black coat, purple hat with its ears drooping, the boots hanging upside down. She threw her drenched work clothes into the laundry basket and went to her fridge, not even shivering at the rush of cool air on her damp skin "Did you eat the rest of the chicken soup?"

"No," he replied lazily. "Put some clothes on, what if Wallace walks in here?"

Sayo let out a snort and deliberately took the extra couple of seconds to put her soup in the microwave. "Not even 'I can't handle seeing you in just your underwear'."

Koh yawned. "After three months of figure drawing, I'd be more concerned I drew you right." At her snort and the obedient rustling of house clothes, he closed his game. "How bad was it today? You usually at least show off a little when you take off wet clothes."

She yanked her outfit out and hurried to lift the purple mop of the hair from the wool so she didn't have to keep repeating the process, covering her back and shoulders with the usual poncho. When she was finished and dressed in things that she knew probably would be cute enough to anyone who was all that interested in while simultaneously giving legitimately no cares because the room was starting to smell like chicken and bell peppers and wet scallions.

When she turned around, Koh had her purple comb in hand. "I hope you heated up some for me," he said with a pout. "Otherwise I'll sing Bohemian Rhapsody while you talk about your day."

She punched him in the arm and settled down on the floor. "Of course I did, you live here." He snickered and began to gently tug the comb through her purple hair. "Wasn't all that exciting anyway. The class was a riot. You know that kid who keeps sneering at me because I keep mixing up my Rs and stuff?"

"Yeah?" She can see he has one eye kept on the door, and she's glad for it because she wants to keep talking. So long as she focuses on this and not that inevitable bad night that he had woken up to her having again, things would work out just fine, she figured. "Did you get back at him?"

"He flunked his exam." She tried not to sound satisfied, but it was the fighter in her. Small victories and all of that.

Koh snickered. "Nice. Pig."

"He's supposedly in trouble for smacking a girl on the butt. Supposedly." She let the words roll out of her mouth, relaxing to the steady rhythm of her friend's hands in her hair. When he was done, she went to get the soup and split it. "You want me to do you next?"

Koh yawned. "Could you? I'm probably going to bed after this. I've gotta get up early to practice a presentation."

"Sure. And call your boyfriend. Tell him hi, all right?"

"Mm." As they prepared to settle in, there was a loud knock at the door. Sayo sighed. "Your friend, man," Koh said, sipping his soup.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, moving to the door. She had been just really starting to relax too. She opened the door and was almost knocked off of her feet by two bunny-dogs. She pretended her heart didn't skip in her chest. "Hullo, Terriermon, Lopmon. How was the car ride?"

"Great!" chirped one.

"Boring," chirped the other. "Tailmon's boring."

"I'm not a babysitter," drawled the lazy voice of a cat from the outside of the hall. Sayo took the brief distraction to shove Wallace back. "Willie," she groaned. "I just dried off. Go flirt with someone else."

Wallace scoffed. "But flirting with you is fun, Sayo-chi. I've got no chance and you don't care."

"That's a hint it should be the other way around, mate," Koh called at him. Of course, he went ignored. Sayo had a feeling Koh and Wallace would hate each other until the sun exploded. Koh did so hate a guy who couldn't take a hint and cut his losses.

"My girlfriend would disagree with you," Wallace replied, smiling at Sayo again like she was the girlfriend instead of the unfortunate neighbor.

"And neither of us will believe she exists until you bring her back from Colorado for the summer." If they were even still around by then. Which Wallace knew and smiled away anyway. He grinned smugly at them.

"You all doubt me quite a bit," he said. Then he waved his hand towards the person behind them. Sayo's eyes roved to look at them. Brown hair, fair features, cute even. They would be even cuter after some sleep and a possibly snuck bit of whiskey, but she wasn't mean enough to suggest something like that, probably. "Anyway, I just wanted to introduce you to Hikari-chan. She'll be using my apartment while I head back home for break and stuff."

"She's not paying your rent is she?" Koh wandered over to give Sayo her soup bowl.

Wallace rolled his eyes. "Hah! They wish! They'd love an excuse to get rid of me here, you know that?"

 _Because Tamer Union owns this building, you ass._ Sayo felt the words bubble on her tongue and quashed them down. She was tired. Koh would be really, really lucky if he got his hair all the way combed. Then again, seeing Wallace may have killed the desire.

She decided to say instead, "True enough I guess. So, who is our new friend?" She said _friend_ loosely. After all, she wasn't the social butterfly Koh was and he had limits.

Hikari jumped a bit and looked over at her. Probably surprise and exhaustion. She sounded Japanese. Probably the poor sod Wallace got from the airport. Lucky her. She smiled and bowed, muffling a yawn. "Sorry," she managed after a moment. "I'm Yagami Hikari. I'm covering for him while I do an important research project. I… I'm one of the Chosen Children."

"Wouldn't be allowed here if you weren't," Koh quipped before he gave her an easy smile. "I'm Sanada Koh, and my roommate here is Furude Sayo." Sayo dipped her head and let Koh lean on her shoulder like she always did. "We're both a little weird, but if you ever don't feel like cooking, don't be shy about stopping by. We usually make too much."

Sayo managed a smile as Hikari straightened up. Her shoulders eased for a moment. "Thank you very much for the offer."

In that instant, red met purple and a twang reached through Sayo's heart and threatened to cut it in two.

As she looked at Yagami Hikari, Sayo quickly realized it wasn't just her.

And yet, as she looked away, that longing didn't go. Not even thinking Dianamon's name pushed it away. In fact, it only grew worse.

"I'm just trying to help," whispered the boy in her ear.

Sayo scowled at nothing in her mind, keeping the fake smile she knew best into place.

 _Go help someone else._


	3. Chapter 3: The Opposing Footsteps

_Note that I tend to write Sayo as darker skinned than what she appears as in Dawn/Dusk. :) Also warning for past character death._

* * *

 **Chapter Three: The Opposing Footsteps** (Sunrise)

 _December 1_ _st_ _, 2009_

 _Brooklyn, New York_

Hikari awoke on an unfamiliar bed and panicked for the two seconds it took for Tailmon to yawn by her ear. Then, she took a deep breath and groaned, flopping backward on her bed once more. There were no articulate thoughts, no panicked actual response. Just five seconds long enough to realize where she was and that it was still dark. Then she flopped back over, only to wake up to the sound of doors opening and closing.

 _Did I shower last night?_

It would occur to her what a bad question that was about three hours from now but right now she just wanted to wash her face. Thankfully, the guest room (which Wallace was joking that years from now would be a nursery) was adjacent to the bathroom, so it was easy for her to sneak into it and shut the door. As she passed, she heard a tattering of voices. One was, of course, Wallace. The other it took her a moment to recognize. It was a little like Mimi-san's voice, she thought. Except it was slightly lower. There was a cut to it that just didn't exist from Mimi. It wasn't _bad_ , per se, but it did alert her that Mimi-san was not here. Not that she would be, she went to college in Manhattan. And, now that she remembered, she was going on vacation too.

As she wiped her face and turned off the faucet, she heard Wallace groan. "I'm not prepared for finals. I'm not."

"You're the one who decided to turn everything in two weeks early."

What was that girl's name again? She'd remember later Hikari was sure of it, but she wanted to remember now.

"Don't sass me, miss, who said 'screw community college, I'm getting paid to draw things'. You don't even have finals, Sayo."

"I have more than graphic design, plebian." Sayo must have hit something to the table because Wallace almost shouted. "I'm not breaking your fine china, give it a rest."

Hikari took this as a time to put her day clothes on. What kind of relationship did these two have? A close one if she could come into his house so freely, surely. One that didn't require the use of honorifics in Japanese. One that made the other think it necessary to introduce them.

"How's Motomiya-kun?"

Hikari froze in the middle of slipping her socks on. Motomiya? Perhaps she had misheard.

"Daisuke?" Wallace made a noise of exasperation. "I have no idea. Last I heard, he's supposed to come up here after his winter exams, but I'm not sure if I believe him. College is coming up and he's got vocational school to worry about." He paused and there was a slurp like going over the rim of a teacup. "He's worried about you though."

"I'm not the first person to lose mine." Sayo's voice sounded dry. "I won't be the last either. He doesn't have to do anything special."

"He'll probably want to, Sayo." Hikari risked walking past. She swore she saw the other's eyes flicker onto her but she went ignored. "You've lost her _twice_. And even if not, when I lost Choc-Lopmon." He sighed a little. "It hurt because he wasn't gone. And then he was. So… He's going to want to worry. Nat-chan, she was his friend too."

 _Nat-chan?_ She wracked her brain, then remembered the end of elementary school. She remembered the summer before him coming home from New York with such a heavy, despondent look that she hadn't entirely managed to help him lose. Not until she had let him cry and scream a little bit and win at soccer. It hadn't gone away.

Hikari went to 'her bed'. This wasn't her business. It really wasn't. The only problem was that these walls were thin enough to hear through. She went for her other socks, and to finish unpacking. That would give them time, and allow Tailmon to wake up out of sheer annoyance.

Sayo sighed wearily. "I know. He's done enough though. We can handle this."

"A Chosen's work is never done." Wallace sounded so wry that Hikari had to muffle a snort. Didn't she know it? "Well, anyway, he's doing all right as much as you can do all right. I heard he saw a cute girl that responded."

Sayo let out a cough just as Tailmon started stretching, her bare paws kneading into the fabric. Perhaps it was just a sign of trust that Tailmon slept with her with her gloves off. Or perhaps it was acceptance and understanding. She didn't know. After Tailmon slipped her gloves on again, Hikari scooped her up, in turn, yawning and feigning early morning inability to hear.

She heard Sayo snort with laughter, within millimeters of a giggle. "Wally, just because you feel the need to make flirtatious jokes doesn't mean everyone makes those. Maybe Motomiya-kun just hit the right notes."

"Could be. I should ask him for ideas." He laughed. "Mimi is so excited about this whole trip. I really don't want to disappoint her!" Hikari came out of the room and he turned on the stool. "Morning, Hikari-chan!"

"Good morning," she greeted and Tailmon yawned in response. The two Digimon in the room waved their floppy ears. She nodded politely to Sayo, who merely dipped her head, purple wavy locks moving around her dark cheeks as smooth as water. "How long have you two been awake?"

"Long enough for me to break into his apartment and make coffee," Sayo said. The violet eyes, like the evening before, rested on her like she had something worth taking. Like she had seen her scuttle on by. Hikari felt her cheeks heat up a bit and she opened her mouth to say something.

Wallace laughed softly before she could. "It's her way of warning me not to miss my flight," he said, eyeing Hikari with amusement. "Don't mind her, Sayo isn't good at friendship. That's why I introduced you. Otherwise, she would assume I left without saying goodbye and moved back home."

"I would not." Sayo looked at him like she had just seen the ugliest green peppers imaginable. Then she turned her gaze back to Hikari. For whatever reason, Hikari felt her hair stand on end. Her pause was long enough that Tailmon looked up at her. "Would you like some of the food?" she asked.

Hikari's first instinct was to refuse, even as the other girl went to the stove. Her second instinct was to watch. This small girl (who had to be around the same age as Hikari herself, she wouldn't be so relaxed in the company of two adults like this if she wasn't) moved about the room like water around reeds. The cream turtleneck hugged her torso as she moved her arms. It was a look that Hikari had only recently found good on her.

"If it's not too much trouble," she finally said, stopping herself. Oh yes, this was the best time to stare at girls. Or boys. Or anyone. Right.

She rubbed her eyes. This problem was new.

Wallace smiled at her. "Good choice. Her and her flatmate alternate meals."

"Sanada-kun?"

"Yep. He's already gone for the day though." Wallace waved a hand. "He's got eight in the morning classes down in Manhattan. And an exam."

"Oh..." Hikari scratched her head to remember where all the boroughs were. It was kind of like Tokyo wards… except not really. Her best contacts were nowhere in sight out here. The doom from yesterday began to creep up on her, only for her to have to pause as the plate landed on the table in front of her face. "T-Thank you very much, Furude-chan!"

"Mm." The girl had gone suddenly quiet. Perhaps, Hikari thought, giving thanks for the food, she had interrupted an important ritual. She lowered her head as she ate, only to feel Tailmon go stiff in her lap. Then a small bowl was set beside her plate. "For your partner," Furude said, watching her again. Then her eyes flicked to Tailmon. "If she wants it."

Tailmon glanced at Hikari and when she got a nod, reached for the bowl. "Thank you." Her partner's voice, crisp in its confidence, made her relax.

The girl nodded again and handed Wallace his own food. "Is there anywhere you have to go today?" Sayo finally took some rice for herself. "My classes aren't until two. I can show you how to get there."

Hikari shook her head politely. "Oh no, I couldn't impose." Though she secretly really wanted to. The only ones worse with her with directions were Taichi and Daisuke. And she hated navigation apps. "I mean, it's really nice of you, but-"

"It's all right." Sayo sat on another black stool. "You don't want to be lost in New York. Anything can happen."

"It's like Tokyo in that regard." Wallace smiled again. "Where do you need to go?"

Hikari hesitated because really, imposing like that was rude. However so was showing up a mess for a meeting. "I need to head to..." she went to the email on her phone and read out in cautious English. "Mercy College?"

Not that her English was bad, she had been practicing it since they had ended up in China and she had been nearly clueless. At least this language was known in most places. That was about all she could ask for.

"Ah." Sayo's fingers slipped off of the chopsticks for a moment. "Okay."

"Okay?" Hikari shifted on the stool as the purple eyes took hold of her.

Sayo nodded once more. "Okay."

And Hikari heard the boy in mind and thought suddenly, _Oh I need to help her._

With the odd, thoughtful look in the girl's eyes, it wasn't difficult to imagine why. Along with everything else. Maybe being her friend would be a start. After all, it wasn't like she knew anybody else in this wide open city.

"Thank you very much then."

"Mm."

Wallace gently nudged Hikari's arm. "That was the smart option. Nice going."

Hikari flushed, but she didn't think that was it at all. Still, what was the point of making more waves?


	4. Chapter 4: The Unseen Stars

_Apologies for no chapter yesterday. My computer was having problems all night. warning for racism and implied past poverty_

 _Revised: 06-14-18_

* * *

 **Chapter Four: The Unseen Stars** (Moonrise)

 _December 1_ _st_ _, 2009_

 _Train Station, New York City_

Sayo wrapped her gloved fingers around the stair rail once more, hurrying down them. Her eyes were focused almost primarily on the floor. This time, her socks did not squelch and she sighed in relief. No drenched feet tonight. It had been hard enough to stand there at work yesterday, drenched to the bone and having no saving grace aside from the small heater because what she hadn't known from her previous place of occupancy was that college students generally didn't get much in terms of money and or free time. Buying clothes was reserved for that rare day a month when _nothing_ was happening. And that wasn't coming any time soon.

She watched the people pass her on the subway platform, looking at their phones. Not that there was much to see outside aside from your stop, but they were old pros at this by now. They didn't have to watch if they didn't want to. They had no reason to be on guard.

Sayo merely gripped her backpack tighter in her arms. She had plenty of reasons.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Her eyes slipped slightly closed a bit and she almost fell. Thankfully, long honed instincts kicked in and she righted herself to stand more firmly in her boots. She rubbed between her eyes, praying Koh had been thoughtful enough to keep an eye on the pot roast she had left in the cooker. She had no idea if that housesitter was going to join them or not but it couldn't hurt to have more food nearby.

Ah… she had a name didn't she? Yagami? Hikari Yagami?

Sayo made a face. "Kiba no Hikari*… Or something," she told herself. It was a name Koh probably thought was perfect, the nerd. Well, she had been incredibly polite. It was surreal almost. Not disliked, but… unusual.

The chick also really needed a GPS app, seriously what was she thinking? She had to hope that she knew more English than she did street signs. She couldn't look after her too much. There weren't enough hours.

Her phone buzzed and she picked it up to see a picture of Wallace, one arm over Mimi's shoulder. Both were dressed in big coats. Mimi's, of course, looked good on her. A smile lifted her lips. That looked nice. They looked nice together.

She sneezed, then wiped it on the sleeve of her black coat. It smeared, glistening and ugly and clear, so much like tears and yet much too viscous. She sighed to herself.

"I must be tired if I'm thinking in metaphors." Sayo put her phone away, just in time to see a little green blob with a leaf on its head trying to hop past her. Without thinking, Sayo leaned down and picked it up under one arm. "Neh, you shouldn't get that close to the tracks." It blew bubbles in her face in response and she spat salt water. "Oi, I'm trying to help you, you know. Your partner won't appreciate you being electrocuted." Its beady eyes squinted at her and she scoffed. "Yes, you. You're a Digimon, not a lightning rod. Learn the difference or you'll make your partner sad, you know?"

As she continued to scold the little Digimon, her eyes flickering about for someone looking for such a small thing, Sayo couldn't help but think-

 _Moonmon used to hide in my bag down here._

She had always needed room in her backpack so she could take the subway to school before she had left New York. It had been left behind, donated again. Everything had been donated back then. She had scrubbed and scrubbed and patched it herself, even parting with the cereal box stickers that had drawn Moonmon to her in the beginning.

They were gone. So was she.

"Leafmonnnn~" The wail of a voice warbled from the subway entrance. Sayo turned and let the creature jump from her hands to the gaggle of children and their mother and father. The children's eyes followed the bouncing Digimon from whence it came. When their eyes met hers they immediately started to wave. The parents, however, shooed them away. One looked at her and then away a bit too fast.

Sayo turned back to watch the train pull in and pulled up her collar. Her purple hat chilled her head, obsessively cold now. As she passed, she heard someone grumble beside her.

"Right pricks, hey?" The woman grinned at her over what smelled like a styrofoam cup of passion fruit tea. She sipped it. Sayo blinked at her. She waved a hand. "Ah, c'mon, are you too used to it now?" She gestured to Sayo's face and hands, a rich olive with the water logging them down.

Sayo shook her head. "Suppose so." She toyed with a lock of lilac. "You sure it wasn't the hair?"

The woman laughed. "That? Here? Hardly. No, it was something else." Her brown eyes, surrounded by freckles, danced about as the train doors opened. "It always is."

Wasn't that the truth about everything? "Mm." Sayo made to go towards the thinning crowd of exiting people. "Are you getting on?"

The woman laughed and gave her a cheerful clap on the shoulder. She was happy not to wince. "Nah, my date's getting off. They're lost without me. Take care of those kinds of pricks, kay? We're all unwelcome visitors to them."

Sayo almost smiled. "Aye," she said, raising her hand in farewell. She went to a seat, watching the windows on the opposite side as the doors closed. The woman met someone with cropped green hair, a child's palm in each thick hand, their skin a little loose and naturally narrowed eyes. They too were smiling.

Then the station was gone and Sayo was left watching the floor in motion. She pulled out her phone again. Her ears were pricked in their usual way. This was the same way she always took home. It was supposed to be safe. That didn't necessarily mean it was.

 _I need to get my iPod fixed,_ she reminded herself, listening to the absent tip-tap of a musician on his saxophone case. Otherwise, it was almost half an hour or more of imagining Moonmon exciting long gone train passengers late at night or of days she delayed leaving school because she didn't want to get caught jumping the ticket gate. Gone were those days… mostly because she had the money not to do it now. How easily the alley cats are tamed.

She exhaled gently, reveling in the warmth of the train and the bodies around her. Reveling in the life. The one she hadn't taken away. Well, no, that wasn't entirely accurate. At least the scientists assumed it wasn't.

Her phone buzzed. She looked at the screen. A call. A familiar number. Sayo hesitated, looking at the crowd. There were a couple small Digimon on various chairs, but they were mostly going ignored. That didn't seem right. She pressed the green button. "Three-four," she said by way of greeting.

"Oh, _must you."_ The voice on the other end droned her exasperation.

Sayo did smile. "Sorry, chief. It has to be done."

"Koh isn't allowed to pick your greeting responses anymore. Next time it's something normal."

"Aye," she agreed if only to speed up the call. "What's going on?"

Julia's voice, weary and warm, almost warmed her limbs as she spoke. "Nothing too exciting as of yet. Your Digivice is still being analyzed." A pause. "You're sure you only completed the mission as designed, even now."

"Aye." That was the third time today. She must be tired. Usually, her English didn't sound like it came from the bowels of the pirate's grammar module. "I killed them like you told me to. It was a nightmare to do it, but we managed it."

"I've told them this but they're still _stubbornly_ thinking you broke your Digivice."

"That's the most expensive thing I've ever owned," Sayo mused. "And they all said there was no way I could."

"I know. Glare's been pulling his hair out." Julia's voice faded out for a moment. "Anyway," she said a moment later. "How are classes?"

"Better now." Sayo yawned. "Work's hell though."

"Well, think of it this way." Julia's voice took on a nasal tone worthy of old movie boarding school matrons. "You and Koh will grow up with a trade and be able to leave this city and go on to brighter pastures."

"Or some such nonsense. With the economy the way it is, maybe in twenty years."

"Don't be so pessimistic. That's Koh's job."

"Aye, aye." She glanced at the train as it began to slow. The stop looked much more crowded than the last. "I'll have to let you go, chief. A crowd's about to come on."

"Ah." Julia actually sounded disappointed. "Don't let me keep you then. I'll call you in three days. Check your inbox in a minute, all right?"

"Mm." Sayo chewed on her lip. "Take care."

"As must you."

The call ended just as the doors flooded open. Sayo barely watched them, opening the bouncing envelope on screen. Admittedly, she had wanted the one that looked like an Agumon carrying your email in its mouth but matching _Koh_ more than she already did was not allowed.

The envelope opened and a picture popped up. Light skin, purple hair, a pale set of pajamas the ugliest color of toothpaste, but the little girl stood upright without help from the nearby bars and the feathers sticking out of her back seemed less inclined to droop.

Sayo's smile widened for an instant.

Then the air grew chilly for a moment and someone whispered in the space of the train doors closing,

" _Do you regret killing us?"_

Sayo said nothing, She couldn't even mouth the word 'no'. The train jolting into motion brought the warmth of the subway car to her again and she looked around. Yagami was standing right in front of her. She hadn't spoken a word. In fact, she seemed surprised more than anything.

"Furude-chan..." she said, trying for a greeting and her Japanese fumbling in her discomfort.

Sayo blinked at her. "Mm?"

The girl twitched. "Are you all right? Earlier… you had a troubled expression on your face."

"Mm. Nothing big." She pocketed her phone. "Heading back?"

Hikari nodded quickly. "I was going to go to the store but..."

"Thursday is better." At Hikari's quizzical look, she elaborated. "It's less crowded. Koh goes then. He'll show you." She paused as if something had just occurred to her. "If you're able to."

"I… I'll try to be if he doesn't mind."

"Koh likes company." Sayo left it at that. "Dinner, tonight?" For whatever reason, the girl's face burned. Ah, wait. There was a reason. "We made a lot. We cook for Wallace sometimes."

Hikari relaxed. "Ah… are you sure?"

"Mm." For whatever reason, being around Yagami Hikari made her throat hurt. "If you are fine with it."

"Mm." The quiet response was approval enough for her. The whisper didn't come back, even as she looked at the picture of the little girl and put it as her wallpaper.

Perhaps Yagami-san kept them away for the night. She would know in the morning.

* * *

 _Kiba no Hikari* - fang of light_


	5. Chapter 5: Those Unfamiliar Words

**Chapter Five: These Unfamiliar Words** (Sunrise)

 _December 2_ _nd_ _, 2009_

 _Brooklyn, New York_

Wallace's apartment was too quiet for her, Hikari realized when she woke up alone the next morning. Normally, her brother or her parents (or both, it was occasionally both on game days) woke her up. Instead, it was Tailmon, nudging her for food and a well-done brushing.

She had come into the apartment alone the night before and found a note, converted money, and the TV guide. Even Tailmon's steady pacing about the rooms didn't help much. Not that she could blame Tailmon for pacing. Hikari wandered about the apartment, looking at the furniture. The early morning light streamed through the soft white curtains. It was a dull gray, the days still overcast. Hikari sighed to herself.

She really couldn't believe she had been roped into this situation so easily. Now she was in a foreign country alone (well, with Tailmon, who didn't seem to like it here either), using a language she still wasn't comfortable with and assigned a rather absurd task when you actually thought about it, it all seemed too much. But Mercy College wouldn't call her back until Monday, at the earliest, once they had all of the paperwork and tasks lined up for her to do. And to think, in any normal situation, she would be taking her exams in three weeks. She had no idea how that was being worked out.

"Himekawa-san can be incredibly scary even now," she mused. Tailmon scoffed and Hikari almost giggled. Tailmon and Himekawa Maki had the strangest, respectful relationship, mostly because Tailmon questioned everything the other did and actually was acknowledged for it as a result. It was a sort of behavior Hikari worked to emulate, especially after everything that had gone on.

Her stomach grumbled. "Eggs?" she said, praying Wallace had left some in the fridge like he had said he would. (Koh had given her a very deadpan rant about how Wallace would say things were there when they weren't. She didn't know Wallace well enough to not believe it.)

"Sure." Tailmon's voice was slightly amused. "Tea and toast?"

"Mm. Agreed." Hikari felt her shoulders relax. "That sounds great." Something normal and familiar would do her good right now, even if it wasn't rice.

As she went to examine the contents, however, there was a soft knock at the door. Reflexively, Hikari glanced at the clock on the wall. It was seven-oh-five. What was someone doing up? Hikari just woke early because her brother didn't often get up on time. Tailmon hopped from the windowsill she had been standing on, temporarily abandoning the curtains to join Hikari at the door.

She opened the door to see Sayo, fully dressed with her backpack on and a small cart in her hands. "Breakfast," said the other, her normally inscrutable face unmoving as ever. Barring yesterday anyway… her eyes had been almost full of some sort of longing.

Tailmon regarded her thoughtfully. "Why do you keep offering us food?"

Hikari flushed. "Tailmon!"

"It's a perfectly valid question," responded her partner, looking all the world like she was talking to Himekawa-san and not their neighbor. "She's doing it like we already asked her to."

"Still..." Hikari tried to smile at Sayo. "Sorry, Furude-chan. Tailmon's always been the critical one." Her partner huffed, tail swishing.

Sayo shook her head. "Wallace didn't explain?" At Hikari's raised eyebrow, she replied. "His apartment has better light. I cook breakfast, he lets me sketch in here while Koh does morning stretches."

"And dinner?" Tailmon cut in before Hikari could stop her.

Did Sayo's lips twitch? "We sometimes cook together."

"You two must be pretty close." Hikari stepped back, allowing her to come in with the cart. On it sat simple plates of omurice, fruit, and toast. Tailmon climbed to Hikari's shoulder, still watching Sayo. Her ears weren't back at least, so that gave Hikari confidence that her friend wasn't just going to fly at Sayo and claw her face off.

Sayo shut the door and offered them both a pensive look. "Wallace… said nothing?" Her quiet voice might have shaken a little.

"Just when we were introduced," Hikari murmured, going to get silverware. There was no reason to turn it down, after all. She was already here. It would be even more rude, right?

"Mm." Sayo was silent for a while, watching them both under the brim of her purple hat. It was the most battered thing in her ensemble, the rest dark colors that accented her olive skin and made the dullness of her eyes virtually unnoticeable. Except Hikari had seen plenty of eyes like that in her time. "Wallace, Mimi-san, and Motomiya-kun… they brought me my Digimon, you see. About six years ago."

Ah, Daisuke-kun's trip to New York. "And Wallace-kun and Mimi-san just stuck around?"

"Mm." Sayo handed her a plate. "I left half a year later to go-" She stopped speaking and looked Hikari over again. She looked almost downtrodden like she wanted to explore further. "To go to a boarding school. And I had an accident recently, so I came back here."

That was probably the longest sentence Hikari had heard the other young woman actually speak.

"I see," she said after a while of just staring.

Tailmon, inexplicably, relaxed and went to her plate. Neither of them wanted to ask where the said partner was now. It wouldn't be right. "What are you studying for?" Hikari watched Sayo slowly put her backpack down, afraid of harming the contents.

"Graphic design," Sayo said after thanking for the meal. "I want to animate stories someday."

"My friend Takeru-kun is writing stories." Hikari felt her chest warm with loose affection and pride at the thought of her best friend. "Maybe someday you'll get to work together on a story of some kind."

Sayo watched her and nodded, humming in thought as though taking the possibility seriously despite the oceanic distance. "That would be nice," Sayo said after a moment or two.

Hikari found herself smiling, and took up a new conversation topic.

Eventually, they finished eating and Hikari took the dishes before Sayo could do them herself. She seemed to be like the kind of person who just would do things without really thinking about them. No wonder Daisuke had found her. She loved him like a brother but sometimes he pulled stunts that he knew wouldn't make sense. When she had finished, Sayo sat in one of the square facing armchairs, back to the wall. Her pencil was on what was likely formerly a blank piece of paper. It was filled with pictures, she realized. They looked like nothing more than thumbnail sketches, quick drawings, and facial features. But onward she went, not a template in sight.

Hikari turned away out of politeness and went to grab her laptop. For at least an hour the two sat in surprisingly comfortable quiet. Hikari ran through her inbox, mass sent a picture of her and Tailmon on the floor, curled together on a nice beanbag pillow. (There was very little furniture in this living room.)

Then Sayo spoke up, voice quiet but perfectly audible in the silent room. "Yagami-san?"

Hikari looked up and over from her screen. "Yes, Furude-chan?"

"What are you?"

The innocuous question had a chill down Hikari's back and Tailmon back on her back paws, gloved front paws raised. "What do you mean?" Hikari was more bewildered than hurt by such a bluntly stated question.

Sayo tilted her head before speaking, a habit that would be cute to anyone else in any other situation. "Yesterday, I heard a nasty voice for a moment, whispering in my ear. And then, right when you stood in front of me, it didn't come back. And it hasn't come back again like it always does these days."

"Whose voice?" Hikari found herself curious before she could stop herself.

The girl actually made a face, lips twitching into a heavier frown. "Demon." She didn't notice Hikari's blood draining from her face as she continued. "And Lucemon. It is usually either of them. Sometimes Dagomon, but I can't trust him either. Much too far away."

Hikari sat there quietly. Maybe it didn't really mean anything at all. She went back to her computer and didn't answer Sayo, not immediately. She was too busy bringing up seven different message windows and multiple email addresses. Tailmon, noting her partner's immense distraction, decided to answer.

"Hikari is the Child of Light," she finally said. "An old hand at being a Chosen Child. She bears the Crest of Light."

Sayo's eyes widened slowly. She turned to her sketchbook and started flipping through in rapid succession until she opened the book to a carefully drawn page.

On the page was the sketch of a very familiar Digimental. A pair of wings were wrapped around an unseen body, large paws holding it up straight. Binding the wings together was a darkly colored Crest of Light.

"I have this," she said. "At my home."

Hikari set her computer down to examine it, eyes going wide. "Why would you have _my_ Digimental?" It wasn't even a possessive concern. That said, the Chosen of Japan had operated on them all alone bearing their Crests or Digimentals because they were _made_ for them. Even the swapping of Digimentals back then had been a fluke. But that was an exact drawing of what was still sitting in her own D-Terminal.

 _And how does she not know about me to start with?_

Why?

Her computer started to beep. She hurried back to it, wondering how a message could be responded to that fast.

Instead, when she clicked on the window, her screen started to bulge. Zeroes and ones pushed outward and outward, melting off and swelling out much like when she had been very young and Agumon had come to her.

The only difference between then and now was that the egg flew without error into Sayo's lap.

Then, the other's eyes started to glisten.

"No," Sayo said through those falling tears. "No. You're not her." Despite those words, she held the egg closer to herself and started to rub its shell.


	6. Chapter 6: These Hollow Hours

**Chapter Six: These Hollow Hours** (Moonrise)

 _December 2_ _nd_ _, 2009_

 _Brooklyn, New York_

The tap on her shoulder woke Sayo from her careful swipes on the tablet, the device propped against the keyboard. She looked up slowly to see one of her classmates staring at her. She pulled her headphones down to her neck, her purple eyes blinking curiously at them.

"Mm?" Her hand touched the top of her bag.

"Class is over," said the young man, grinning at her and tugging at the paint dried into his hair. He always ended up that way no matter what he did. Michael was an expert in making a mess, blond hair included. "Your roommate's outside."

"Koh?"

"Yeah, orange hair, don't look Japanese worth a hoot?"

Sayo hit him on the arm without thought. "He is." It wasn't like she looked all that Japanese either. She took more after her mother. "Did he say why he was here?" She glanced at her phone. It was after six. He must have rushed here from work.

"Nope." Michael made to spin her chair. "You going?"

Sayo nodded without hesitating and began to save her work. Within minutes she was hoisting her backpack over her shoulders, oblivious to the slight weight of the oval object taking up half of the space.

No, not oblivious. She was just ignoring it. Not that that was easy, mind you. Still. She tugged her hat back down to her ears., purple points flopping about like always.

Koh was sitting on a bench downstairs when she finally made it to him. "Yo," he said, raising his hand. "I was getting takeout. Want to come?"

"Mm."

He offered his hand. Sayo took it, their gloved palms meeting and reviving the warmth that just came naturally to them. They walked like this, like there were no stares, no hisses because Koh looked like just another American redhead until you saw the way his eyes slanted in the corners and the darkness of her own skin accented by the lanky straightness of her locks. Indeed they were freaky little misfits, the pair of them. That was how it had always been, and it wasn't going to change for the sake of someone else's opinion.

"How's the egg?" he asked as they turned down the road. It looked like they'd be taking the scenic route. He must be worried.

"Hasn't moved much." Sayo swung her umbrella with her free hand. "I've rubbed it between classes. It wiggles."

"Yagami-chan said you cried."

Koh's voice seemed perfectly conversational. Sayo knew it wasn't. They had been a team for years after all. They still were, sometimes. Or had been. No one else would stay in an apartment with her if they could help it, probably. Well no, their fellow trainees might. Still, his concern wasn't just casual. He wasn't a casual person.

Sayo didn't answer him immediately and Koh continued. "And here I thought she would be quiet about it, but the second I asked she was willing to spill. I guess you really worried her."

"Why?" The possibility of a stranger's concern baffled her at best. Then again, Sayo herself had bolted out of Wallace's apartment with her things and ran to school. Even the idea of her muscles cramping was preferable to conversation about her feelings.

Koh shrugged. "She's a nice person I guess."

"Mm." Sayo looked up at the lights of the skyscrapers, listening to people talk urgently on their phones as they passed. A year before had been the housing market crash, yet there they were, living their lives as if it hadn't happened. "Last year, Lunamon died."

"Yep." Koh's voice was almost distant, but she knew it was because he had pulled up his phone to look up the menu, not because he didn't care. Damn him because he always cared. "Same as the housing market. You think it was a coincidence?"

"Do you?" She wondered, but didn't jab. A year of no missions and rushed high school graduation and college life had drained much of her spark, and she knew it.

"I don't believe in coincidence." Koh smiled at her. "Just like you don't believe in losing hope."

Sayo shifted as she caught the smell of knish overlapped with liver and sauerkraut. "It's not Lunamon," she finally said. "I miss her."

"Good." Koh yawned. "Just uh…. What was it Glare would say?"

"'Why the hell is there an egg in your bag?'" She offered and he snorted with laughter.

He wiped his eyes before they could walk into the restaurant, still laughing. "You've got jokes, Sayo."

Her lips twitched. "I guess so." She scanned the menu after nodding to the waiter. "Are we getting Yagami-chan anything?"

"Do you think she can stomach a whitefish sandwich?" he asked with complete seriousness. Sayo shrugged and he scanned the area again. "Eh, I'll try getting it for her. Her cat will eat it if she doesn't. Think the cat will like sable?"

Koh's babbling was only good for his boyfriend, Sayo decided. It was best to cut him off. "Order," she told him, leaning against the counter.

He scoffed at her and obeyed. Sayo shut her eyes.

 _Look at you living such an ordinary life._

She shifted in place.

" _You should thank us for what we've done for you."_

She wasn't planning on doing that anytime soon. Not for what they had taken away.

" _There's so much more we can take away. And we will. And now you can't stop us, can you, little Ta-mer? Like you couldn't stop us then."_

She opened her eyes and breathed in the smell of pastrami. Sayo exhaled and waited for the sound of Koh tapping his foot to speak again. "Yagami-san has a Crest of some kind."

"The heck's a Crest?" Koh snagged a toothpick and a handful of mints. "Does she have a toothpaste brand named after her?"

"She got really scared when I showed her a Digimental. Apparently that's supposed to be hers only." She felt the egg wriggle against her back and frowned further., taking his second handful of peppermint "But we found them… the both of us. Does that mean anything, do you think?"

"Probably that we're all screwed by destiny." Koh made a face. "Or something like that." He yawned. "Won't be anything too new. I mean, the Chrono Core wasn't exactly trying to save the world."

"Mmhm. Definitely not."

" _Don't ignore us now. You did everything you could to pay attention and now you've got ours. How dare you?"_

"Noisy," she mumbled to them. Koh didn't even glance up at her voice, instead taking the plastic bags in both hands. Her eyes flickered to a window.

Someone stared back at her. She stared back.

" _How boring. You aren't even afraid of us."_ The window began to frost. _"You should be smarter than that."_

The glass shattered. Outside, from the billboard, a large arm extended outward, crashing into the side of a building.

People swore and screamed as they started to run, she and Koh leaped under a table. Koh unzipped his backpack and stuffed both bags in. Sayo stared. "Now?"

He scoffed. "Already paid for it. Now, let's go. You still have your other partners right?" Sayo shifted, but nodded. He smiled at her. "Then, shall we?"

Sayo took out her phone and pressed the app. Her screen turned red and from the distant skyscrapers, an alarm began to sound.

Since 2005, since the reboot, the world had slowly, carefully, prepared for times like this. Since the Digimon had invaded since 1999, the world had begun to act in accordance with them. 2005 had just made it fasters.

The screens that weren't full of flailing arms and legs turned the same color red, languages flashing evacuation orders in rapid succession. It wasn't the best way of doing things but it got the idea across. Sayo only looked long enough to see if they were working. Then she scanned through the app and pressed the numbers on screen.

Her phone beeped cheerfully at her. "Initialize Emergency Realize?"

Of course.

"Location found! Please be prepared for the energy load. Homeostasis thanks you for your service!"

 _I'm sure it does,_ she thought, in a voice that was distinctly not her own.

 _"We certainly do,"_ whispered the others.

She crawled from under the table, ignoring Koh's hiss of annoyance.

"We're supposed to stay out of sight!"

That was true. Let a monster fight a monster. Let them take the credit and the blame. Let the real heroes take the glory.

But she wasn't thinking about that now.

Sayo kept walking, eyes on the first writhing mass of limbs. It emerged slowly, unlike the rapidly forming portal splitting the sky. The glass crunched under her boots, her black coat useless in the wind she ignored. She kept walking until she almost had to crane her neck to see upward.

"What do you want with me?" she said. As the street slowly went quiet, her whisper played over the roads, the already denting cars. She watched a vine pierce one and make it explode out of the corner of her eye. "Didn't everything I've done make you want to stay away?" She felt her hands curl into fists. "Can't you leave me alone?"

The billboards fizzed out, one by one., until one shone the color of her hair, darkening slowly to one associated with poison.

" _We have always been with you. Come home."_

The egg wobbled. She hadn't put her bag down even once.

Then, another vine, much thinner, wrapped around her left hand and arm. It went up and up, carving into her shoulder, cutting her sleeves. She cringed in pain, stumbling but unable to fall. The vines held her up, growing tighter and tighter.

" _You are worthy of us, come to us now."_

She tugged on her arm, planting her feet to the ground and starting to tug away. _Idiot,_ she thought. Two Digimon solidified overhead and she grimaced in pain, knees threatening to buckle.

Koh was out in view at this point and then raised his phone towards the first, a crimson and golden man. "ShineGreymon! Cut that thing down!"

Obediently, the dragon-man dove, crashing into and cloaked in flames. Koh moved to Sayo and began to pull. "Let me know if I'm dislocating your arm," he grunted. "I'll feel sorry for you later."

Sayo choked with laughter.

As they tugged, the air continued to chill until their breath puffed more solidly in the air.

"Geez," Koh muttered. "And I thought the vines in Resistor were bad." They both paused at the sound of footsteps. Many footsteps. Koh scowled. "Oh now the cavalry shows up," he muttered.

"It's only been a few minutes," Sayo managed, grimacing with exhaustion. "All right, let's try again..." The back of her neck prickled and she looked up. "Koh, move!"

Koh didn't hesitate to jump back just as something slammed right into her head. She heard Koh shout and then there was nothing but silence.

Even the demons were quiet now.


	7. Chapter 7: The Darkened Coin

_warning for homeless youth, mentions of politics, LGBT themes, slight racism, and implied disregard for a person's own life._

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: A Darkened Coin** (Sunrise)

 _December 3_ _rd_ _, 2009_

 _Brooklyn, New York_

Eight hours ago, Hikari hadn't had plans to go running through a city she had no bearings in to follow the sound of a siren she had never heard before. But she had gone, if only because she had seen someone go by her window on the branches of Jyureimon. If only because her neighbors hadn't been home yet, and Koh had wanted to show her some good food she might like. If only because for whatever reason, she remembered Sayo's crying face.

In the end, it was a good thing that she had. Nefertimon flew fast, but not fast enough to avoid seeing Sayo slammed by a wave of raw energy. She had jerked back like someone yanked on a piece of taffy and then had crumpled, her one arm held up awkwardly by ugly black vines.

Something in her head had cried out, so sadly, and that had been all the prompting Hikari had needed before sending Hikari into a nose dive.

The Chosen had fought, restrained. With her help they had managed to send the Digimon, whatever they were, back through where they had tried to enter from. Then the great red and blue behemoths had vanished and now here she was. She nursed another cup of tea, sitting on one of her neighbor's pale, large cushions. Tailmon was sleeping under her other arm. Outside, the hallways were filled with whispers and bouncing Digimon. The door was mostly soundproof but Tailmon's sensitive ears warned her anyway.

Hikari felt her eyes droop but refused to close them. She didn't want to sleep, not now. All she wanted to do was focus on the slowly breathing form of the girl on the other side of the small living room. Sayo's exhales were quiet and low. Hikari shuddered. It wasn't the first time she had seen someone injured badly or be injured (Yamato-san's near death by strangulation _instantly_ came to mind even ten years later.) and it definitely wasn't the first time she had seen someone at death's door. That did not make it any less terrifying that Sayo had been unconscious for _eight hours and counting_ and had not been taken to a hospital.

"You really should go get some sleep."

She jumped up, only to relax at the sight of Koh, his hair damp from what was probably a bath. It drooped beneath his white towel, just barely avoiding dripping into the mugs. "Thank you," she said after a moment, deciding not to mention giving her a new tea mug was grounds for encouraging her to stay awake. "But she's been asleep for so long."

"She'll wake up soon." Koh sat down on one side of the cushion. His eyes weren't on Sayo, but on the girl's black bag where the DigiEgg sat, wobbling a little every few minutes or so. When they had managed to get home (before any news reporters or cops could grab a hold of them, Koh had shamelessly put Sayo on the couch and stripped her almost completely naked.

Hikari's embarrassment had lasted all of five seconds before she saw the state of Sayo's formerly vine covered arm. A pentagram dug into her upturned wrists, an angry red on her now pallid olive skin. That had just been horrifying. Koh had glanced at it, dressed her, then put a wet cloth on her forehead to let her sleep.

"How do you know?" Hikari finally said. She was worried, how could she not be? She was a neighbor and the last time Hikari had seen her before this, the other young woman had been _crying_. It wasn't a confidence booster. And now here she lay, out cold.

Koh smiled grimly. "She's taken worse blasts and woken up a day later perfectly okay. She's too stubborn to quit."

Hikari wasn't entirely sure that she could believe that, but she nodded if only to support the idea and not cause a fuss. "Who are you people? Really, I mean." She watched his face, an odd smile lifting his hard mouth back into something not nearly as soft as it needed to be, but just as sharp as his frown from before. "You're Chosen Children, at the very least. Wallace-san had told me that everyone who lived here had to be."

"Mmhm. It's an initiative started here in the States, though I'm sure it's picked up elsewhere." Koh sipped his tea. "You could consider us members of a Chosen Child labor union. We're called Tamers for the most part. I dunno what the distinction is to be honest, but about around 2003 after BelialVamdemon broke the barriers real wide for a while, Homeostasis sent out a calling card. It called for kids all over to join in a great cause of looking after the Digital World." When Hikari started at the name, Koh paused. "Yeah, the one who chose you guys, or at least that governing body did anyway."

Hikari frowned thoughtfully. "Why haven't we heard about this in Japan?"

Koh shrugged and yawned. "Your guess is as good as ours but we think it's because it's barely getting off the ground anywhere in general. The Chosen are too young to be taken seriously by most governments but people make being homeless seem like a job description out here. We kind of figure it really only happened because people were too scared of not listening to the president when he made a calling for it. It's mostly good for homeless youth, you know? I mean sure, you'll find some kids on these floors who are afraid of getting their parents hurt but it's more of a charity job than anything."

Hikari frowned and looked at her slippers. "You?"

Koh shook his head. "Orphan. Like Sayo." Before she could make anything of that statement, he changed the subject. "We're supposed to mostly be in the Digital World but… there have been a lot of incidents lately. Our commanders are worried that if we stay too long in the Digital World and get taken out of commission, we won't know how to do anything else. So a lot of us are being sent to schools with the ability to go and deploy at any time."

"You would stay in the Digital World year-round?" Hikari was pulled away almost entirely from her vigil over Sayo now, mostly in utter fascination. Their group had been in the Digital World for weeks on end and it had been a complete struggle from start to finish both times. She tried to imagine many children, possibly in the hundreds, lingering in the Digital World like everything was completely normal, like they had always lived there. And no one had died.

She must have either said this aloud or her face was more expressive than usual because Koh snorted. "No we have problems. We don't actually live on Digital World soil anymore after a really crappy, dangerous Digimon got onto our soil. It nearly killed a Tamer -Chosen, whatever- and that caused the Holy Beasts to actually intervene and float the place overhead." Hikari's wide eyed stare was only met with a shrug. "I was in training at the time that whole mess happened so I have no details that aren't rumors or on the mission report release. But yeah, until recently most trainees just stayed in the Digital World until now."

"What does that have to do with her waking up?"

Tailmon's voice only hadn't startled Hikari because Tailmon always did that, especially when Hikari was sleeping. Koh, however, didn't seem to care.

He smiled at her. "Prolonged periods in the Digital World can alter your body's makeup, like prolonged periods of having a Digimon can change a person. It's why Digimon show up to kids." He flushed. "Well, that's the theory anyway. I've been helping with the study of it. But that's how I know she'll be okay." He looked at Sayo again. "She's taken much worse hits than an energy beam. She's not going anywhere.

"I hope you're right," Hikari said sofly, stroking Tailmon's fur.

Koh winked at her. "According to my boyfriend, I'm usually right."

That got Hikari to giggle and lean back against the cushion. This turned out to be a mistake as within minutes she was out like a light.

She awoke to the yelping caws of pigeons and a low rustling sound. Hikari kept her eyes closed, not remembering why it had been so important for her to have kept her eyes open for so long earlier in the first place. Her fingers loosened from their former position around a mug handle and she didn't react to this for a good few minutes. Then, she remembered a red pentagram, rather like a burn, and her eyes shot open.

Hikari didn't sit up immediately but she didn't have to. Koh was laying by her side, curled in on himself. The mugs were dangerously close to his nose. The rustling noise came again and Hikari let her eyes move slowly across the room.

The DigiEgg was open.

Hikari sat up immediately, staring in vacant surprise at the half of the egg upside down on the floor. She followed the third rustling and soon saw Sayo, sitting up on the couch. She wasn't looking at her, instead staring out at the clear, vivid rising sun. As Hikari shifted to get up, Sayo turned to look at her. In her lap sat a black blob. It blinked its yellow eyes at her, as if it didn't understand who or what she was. One of Sayo's hands scratched one ear, making that familiar rustling sound.

"Furude-chan," Hikari managed to say, not sure why it was suddenly so very hard to breathe.

"Mm." Sayo's hum was the same as always, so familiar despite them knowing each other all of three days.

"How are you feeling?" Hikari cleared her throat, hoping for Koh to wake up. "You were out cold."

Sayo stared at her. Then she dipped her head. "Okay," she replied. "Today is sunny. Can we go shopping?"

It was the most absurd non-sequitur she had ever heard, and yet it took all of Hikari's willpower not to giggle with delight as her heart swelled with relief.

She didn't know why her reaction was that extreme.


	8. Chapter 8: Burned Marks

**Chapter Eight: Burned Marks** (Moonrise)

 _December 3_ _rd_ _, 2009_

 _Brooklyn, New York_

Sayo ignored Koh's insistent glaring at the back of her head. She wasn't fine, and she knew that. That said, she did need to go to the store. The egg had hatched (much too fast, she had barely been holding it), and she had been asleep for a good few hours. Therefore, she needed to get more food and look presentable and be able to examine the pentagram on her wrist. She wasn't exactly an expert on the occult and supernatural, but the pentagram seemed too messy to work properly. The red angry markings were too long for some lines, and squiggly in others. It was like someone had drawn on her wrist with a marker, except that marker was on fire.

She let out a heavy exhale and rubbed her messy hair. "I don't want to go out long," she said, and meant it. "Gonna go, come back and sleep."

"I can go shopping, you know," Koh said with a small scowl. "You don't have to come."

"Yeah but you wouldn't be able to bring it all back. Unless you made Yagami-san do the heavy lifting." As she spoke, she noticed Hikari still staring at her, like she had sprouted a third arm. She didn't react to it.

Koh rubbed his knuckles into her head. "I'm not that delicate, take it back."

Sayo made an amused face and didn't. The Botamon in her arms let out a burst of bubbles.

Hikari's Tailmon made a face. "I hoped that I would get out of babysitting while I was here."

This got the young woman to laugh, even a little sheepishly. "Tailmon… you're supposed to be a good influence on them."

The cat made a face. "Hikari, are you Implying that I'm not?" Hikari scratched her head, taking a little too long to answer. Tailmon almost appeared to pout, an expression that ruined the serious glare on Koh's face. Instead he started laughing, earning a reproachful look from cat and human alike. He sat down, snickering. "S-Sorry," he said, snickering. "I can't help it. My friend's Tailmon makes that same face when she's mad."

This managed to get Hikari to giggle. It was a nice sound, Sayo noted. It was a gentle sound. Yagami-san had to be a gentle person.

It was too bad she was stuck here with them. The Union children were not gentle, and it tended to bite them at the worst time.

She pressed her fingers to the top of the sootsprite's head and put that thought away. For now, they needed to make a grocery list.

…

Sayo awoke hours after their shopping trip to something butting her cheek with as much intensity as physically possible. The smell of chicken was long faded from the air but she could easily smell the buttered rice left in the cooker to keep warm. She opened her eyes to see big amber ones staring at her. It butt against her cheek again. She almost smiled and reached to pick it up-

Only for Dianamon's face to form, decked in white. Her blue eyes watched her, solemn. They weren't accusing, were they? With no mouth to twitch into a smile, or a voice to express displeasure, Sayo had no idea what to think.

Botamon crushed her cheek again, breaking the image. Sayo scratched one tiny ear with her thin fingers.

"I should eat, huh?" she said to it, lips barely moving. It blew a bubble in her face, which popped perfectly onto her nose. She turned her head to spit soap. "You too, she told the sootsprite once her mouth was clean. It wriggled by her fingers in either understanding or desire for food. Since it was a Digimon, and a baby Digimon at that, she assumed it was the latter.

She wandered out of the bedroom, Botamon taking an unusual perch on her head (Seriously, that wasn't all that high up, unless it was for a baby). The living room light was on, but Sayo didn't pause. Her pajamas were covering everything important and she had shorts on if they weren't. She yawned behind her hands as she walked out.

Koh was, surprisingly, nowhere in sight. _Either he has work today or Glare called him._ She bet money on work, or she would if she had any to spare. Glare hated having phone conversations. He hated phones in general. Instead, the person on her couch was Yagami-san. She was laying there, Tailmon curled on her back. Her ears flicked as Sayo passed by and she opened her eyes. Yagami-san didn't react to that, talking with someone on screen through her headphones. Sayo only saw that much because she was passing by, but it still made her puzzled.

 _What's it like having family to call?_

It was probably similar to the calls she made to check the status of her DigiFARM, where all the little ones resided until they got big enough for partners of her own. (Seriously why did she need college? There was a nice career right there.) The main difference probably was that they were related to you and you could see them more than once every couple of months.

Well, obviously there had to be more than that or it wouldn't be such a big deal to Koh.

Sayo put the thought out of her mind at the soft whine of the baby Digimon. She moved to the kitchenette, catching sight of plastic wrapped chicken in the fridge. She moved to heat it, going to get bowls. As she turned, she came almost nose to nose with Tailmon.

For a moment, the two of them stared at each other. Then, Sayo offered her a bowl. Tailmon took it and the chopsticks, fumbling with them for a moment before moving away. Sayo made her own bowl and one of rice for the Botamon.

She wasn't quite sure what the point of making the bowl was, since the second the Digimon was on the counter, they upended the bowl with a clatter of plastic, rushing at the rice with all the dignity a creature without any limbs could command. So basically none. Sayo watched quietly and took a couple of bites of her own. She picked up a tray, making to head back to her own room.

Of course, Yagami-san noticed her the second she tried to sneak away. "Furude-chan, you're awake!" The relief in her voice was almost palpable. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Mm," she agreed, because she was, for the most part. Despite herself, Sayo peered curiously at the screen. There was a young man with recently cut brown hair peering at the screen.

At her curious look, Yagami explained, "That's my older brother, Taichi. You get to see him after he nearly shaved his head."

"I did not shave my head," 'Taichi's voice filtered through the headphones. "And Meiko likes it anyway!"

"Meiko likes _you_ , Onii-chan," Yagami corrected with a grin. She pulled out the headphone jack. Did she want Sayo in the conversation? No that would be interrupting, right?

"Yeah, something like that." She watched the older man's chest puff out a little with pride. "So, you're the girl who has a Digimental, huh?" Taichi looked at her. Sayo hesitated, then nodded, leaning against the back of the sofa with her tray.

"Yes, I… We found others."

Taichi's eyes narrowed. "How many?" At Sayo's puzzled frown, he elaborated. "See, we've been running on the assumption that there have only been one set of Crests, and since the Digimentals represent our crests, there should only be one set of Digimentals. And you guys have found another set." He waved a hand. "Koushiro's having a fit just thinking about it and all the implications."

Sayo tilted her head. It didn't seem like such a big deal to her. After all, they weren't all that important. They were just helpful for raising Digimon, usually.

Yagami looked both amused and concerned with her eyebrow raised like that. She also looked… cute.

Sayo quickly put the thought out of her mind. She didn't have time for that. She had work and classes and this digimon and now a marking on her arm. There was no time for anything like relationships. There wasn't even time for crushes.

The thought danced in her mind as if to taunt her, and to make her stomach clench.

"What kind of implications?" she said in order to stop thinking about it.

Taichi shrugged. "Our Crests may have been more scattered than we thought or your Digital World sectors are really separate. I mean, we've never even heard of _Tamer Union_ on this side. There's a lot we don't know, and plenty the authorities aren't telling us."

For whatever reason, Yagami's lips quivered.

Sayo wondered about it, but at the rush of the beat of her heart, she decided she did not want to know. In fact, she wanted to get away from this. "I… I shouldn't keep you," she started. For some reason, her chest and stomach were flopping around. "I'll see you later, Yagami-san."

"Hikari."

Sayo paused mid-turn, Botamon nearly falling off of her head. "I… beg your pardon."

"Hikari," she repeated. "Koh-kun insisted I call him by his first name, Furude-chan."

"I see..." Sayo swallowed. "Then, Hikari-san, please use mine as well." Oh that was stupid, Sayo, why did you do that?

Well, it couldn't have been that stupid, the girl's face had lit up that much. "Thank you very much, Sayo-chan."

Sayo almost smiled, and nearly sprinted to her room, forgetting to ask why the other had been in their house at all.


	9. Chapter 9: All These New Sensations

**Chapter Nine: All These New Sensations** (Sunrise)

 _December 4_ _th_ _, 2009_

 _Manhattan, New York_

Hikari looked at the files in her hand. She then shut her eyes and began to inhale slowly, then exhale. Nervousness jittered her bones. _They weren't supposed to call me until Monday._ But the potential educational department head had, for whatever reason, got a hold of her very, very basic proposal, very quickly and for whatever reason, wanted to discuss it with her? She wasn't sure if that was exactly how it was supposed to work.

Almost a week and a half later, Hikari was starting to wonder if _any of this_ was how it was supposed to work. She made a mental note to hit herself over the head when this was over.

It was a teensy bit too convenient that she had been called in for this project interview not even forty-eight hours after a Digimon attack in New York City streets.

Her right hand reached to pet a Tailmon who wasn't there. Wisely, she had told Tailmon to not be seen, but stay in the building. Bad enough to have her out in what looked to soon be a very snowy day, at least she could hide inside and be near enough to get to her if something happened. Not that anything was likely to happen but at this rate expecting the unexpected only made sense to her, especially after the past couple of days.

Hikari resisted the urge to flip through her papers again. The whole thing wasn't much better than when she had sent the application in a few days ago. It was messy notes typed up from year after year of obsession. Since the end of 2002, Hikari had thought about this., had thought about a world to come where humans and Digimon would be in coexistence, whether positively or not. For a while after the fight with BelialVamdemon it had seemed mostly positive.

By 2005, Digimon had stopped appearing, and when they had, things had taken a turn for the worst.

Hikari gripped her Digivice a little too tight, enough for it to dig into her knuckles,. No, that horrible half a year was over now. They had gotten through it. And they would go on in later ones as well. They had to.

And this, her idea to link humans and Digimon together, to create a sense or normalcy and responsibility at any age, would help this.

She frowned to herself. Was there any possible way to interact with those Tamer Union people and get their perspective? Sanada-kun and Furude-chan could possibly, but that was a route she didn't want to go down just yet. It might be cheating, or at the very least an inconvenience. Still it might prove useful in the days to come, especially if this went anywhere.

"Hikari Yagami?" The secretary sounded her name out like she was reading a kindergartner's first sentence.

Hikari stood up from the chair and nodded, stepping closer. "Yes?" Oh good, her voice hadn't squeaked.

The secretary smiled a little, as if sensing the woman's awful desire to just run as far away as possible. "You can head on back now. Third door on the right, second office."

Hikari bowed before she could remember not to and hurried to follow those instructions. Her papers nearly slipped and fell but she managed to grasp them in time. Her cheeks flushed a self-deprecating red and she sighed to herself. This was not going to be easy. She really should have expected that. Still, being a bundle of nerves would not help. If this worked, they would have a foothold into this conversation, her big brother especially. And internationally, with a lot of economies beginning to decline, everyone needed that sort of help.

Hikari paused at a drinking fountain. She couldn't think about that now. She had a mission for right now.

She stepped forward and knocked. The response was quick, cheerful, and decidedly _female,_ chirping a greeting _._ Well, that was different. The person who had spoken to her on her previous visit had been male.

She excused herself as she entered, eyes wary, trying very hard to not hunch her shoulders. She faced him with the chair to see a blonde young woman smiling at her, all the while with her hands clasped in her lap. Hikari was not particularly good at guessing ages, but she could almost swear the woman was two years older than her, at best. That either boded really well, or really badly. What could someone in her early twenties be doing in a possibly higher position like this?

The woman rose to her feet with a feline grace, stepping over to her with one hand outstretched. "Hello, hello!" Not even the night black pant suit she wore took away from the raw youth she carried in everything she did. Hikari paused to shake her head, feeling the most uncomfortable tingle down her spine. "...Hello."

She had had no idea that culture shock could be a physical force. But it was.

The woman smiled once more before she spoke. _"You are Yagami Hikari, correct?"_

Hikari froze for a moment, eyes going wide. "I..." She coughed. _"I beg your pardon? You speak Japanese?"_

The young woman nodded, grin unmoved. _"I am. My name is Litton. You met my coworker, Raigo the last time you were here. He was pretty interested I have to say."_ At Hikari's befuddled expression wavering into suspicion, the other continued. _"Allow me to explain. Raigo and I are representatives of the organization known as Tamer Union. We are the reason Himekawa Maki and Nishijima Daigo called for you to come here in the first place. We were looking for someone who was interested in the preservation of the connection between the human and Digimon worlds. According to her, you and your friends are the most capable of reaching out to other areas. She thought your chosen career would make a good match."_

Hikari felt herself sit back in the nearest chair. That… put it all into context. And hearing it wasn't surprising, in retrospect, considering how the government had taken and used them so thoroughly four years prior (and looking back now, it had been clever manipulation) it made perfect sense. _"And you think my ideas can cause this?"_

" _More of your reputation, but yes. Unfortunately, reputation and track record tend to vary on the scale of what is useful."_ The woman sat back in her chair, looking more professional in that single movement than she had the whole time so far. _"Politics is a painful game, but we also figured if we started with you and spread out to your friends and family, it would be better than starting mid-flight. Such as with your brother, or your researcher, or even Tachikawa Mimi-san, though Wallace being in contact with her helps us in that regard."_

" _You and Wallace-kun are connected?"_ Hikari was really starting to wonder how deep this ran. This was a far cry from when Gennai told them he had deleted and altered all information about the Digital World in a majority of computers. "Ah, through Koh-kun and Sayo-chan… right?"

" _Indeed."_ Litton smiled at her, but Hikari looked carefully and saw the wear in the older woman's eyes. _"Two of our better field agents… two of our more worn out field agents. But well, you see, they know Wallace and he is close with Mimi-san. Therefore..."_

" _That can't be a coincidence."_ Hikari felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Litton's tired smile grew more pronounced. _"Yagami-chan,"_ she said with sympathy. _"There's no such thing as coincidence."_

…

Hikari sighed in relief the second she left the campus building. The hour and a half after that odd conversation had been filled with specific questions, grilling every aspect of the small idea of 'a class on Digimon-human relations for future teachers' that had somehow expanded the whole thing into the basic outline for a potential lesson plan. That had been her plan all along but… well she was starting to understand why pioneering an invention was more difficult than improving on an old one.

She sighed and sat down on a bench. "Even now, we're being yanked around by powers outside of our control, aren't we?"

"You always have been."

Hikari looked up to see Koh, Tailmon perched upon his shoulder. She looked surprisingly comfortable there, which Hikari wasn't sure if she approved of that or not at this point. Thankfully, the cat jumped from her perch to Hikari's arms.

"Sorry," Koh said with a small smile. "She ran into me while I was leaving my morning class." Hikari nodded, looking still baffled. "Well, I've also got good ears," he admitted, scratching his orange mass of hair. Now that she was really looking, it was like a slightly tamer version of her brother's. "I guess you met Litton today?"

Hikari nodded. "She's… cheerful." She wasn't willing to say 'good at revealing manipulation schemes."

Koh chuckled. "Yep, That's Litton. She's the trustworthy one of us delegators. Usually she's on the Digital World side though, because Raigo puts up with literally nothing. That gets him into trouble sometimes but it works out."

Hikari wasn't quite sure how that logic correlated but she would go along with it. They stood there for a moment, watching their breath make puffs of air. "Koh-kun?"

"Mm?" Koh quirked an eyebrow.

"Why do you think we don't have choices?"

Koh regarded her like she had grown a third head. "Because you made your choice a long time ago, like everyone else did."

Hikari chewed on her lip, petting Tailmon's ears. That was true, more true than they all realized. But that didn't make it a foreign government's job to poke their nose in. They were just there to help the Digital World. And yet… the national connections had to be needed. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been up here in the first place. "Koh-kun?"

Koh blinked. "Yeah?"

Hikari looked at her papers, at Tailmon, and then at the clouds. "Tell me more about Tamer Union and its connections."

Koh nodded. "All right. For what?"

Hikari had to restrain a smile. "My brother and my friends… I want to do something a little bit bigger."

 _If my home is getting involved, we all are._


	10. Chapter 10: A Lack of Knowledge

**Chapter Ten: A Lack of Knowledge** (Moonrise)

 _December 4_ _th_ _, 2009_

 _Manhattan, New York_

Sayo got out of her math class, head swirling with numbers, to find a Wanyamon sitting on the coat rack, snoozing away. It didn't wake up until Sayo picked them up and then it was just enough to acknowledge her presence. Then it yawned cutely, as all baby Digimon do, and snuggled into her.

"Right into my chest, you derp," she said, just quiet enough to avoid being overheard. They only yawned. Sayo sighed, doing her best to pull herself together with only one hand. It almost failed. Someone laughed, but Sayo, long used to laughter, ignored it. She swept the Wanyamon beneath her hat and made to hurry out the door. Her left hand twitched.

This week had been bad. Well, that had been an understatement but still. Things were pretty freaking bad right about now. And it all centered back to that really ridiculous mission.

Sayo avoided looking at the black marks on her arm. Her sleeves helped, but all it would take is one gust of wind and they would be visible to the world as a cool tattoo and a possible death sentence. She wasn't sure what they meant yet, but until she got her Digivice back, there was no way to figure it out. Sayo was no scientist, and Koh wasn't interested in biology after all, or the occult.

Tapping her snow boots against the ground once more, she lingered at the entrance to her building, surreptitiously checking her phone and the falling snow. How late would she be if she waited a couple extra minutes for a different train? In this weather it wouldn't kill her but she'd rather not lose her temporary job, if it was all the same to anyone else.

When the flakes looked as though they were starting to slow, she shuffled her boots, only for someone's voice to call out her name. That alone made her pause and turn back. Who remembered anyone's names in classes like these? More importantly, who remembered hers, aside from the teacher? Her eyes glimpsed auburn hair and a slightly chiseled face. "Teddie?"

"Heya!" The girl sidled up to her, friendly as could be without actually touching her, something that made Sayo's hunching shoulders relax and the grip on her bag to avoid a very painful laptop crushing. "Are you busy at eight?"

Sayo glanced at the clock. "… Have work until seven." Oh boy, that was almost a full sentence girl, keep it up. You might be able to talk to people here.

"Ooh!" Brown eyes lit up too fast. With curiosity likely, or even just interest. Too much prying interest. But it was a thing here. It was probably worse for Hikari-san, come to think of it, and she hadn't been here a week yet. "Where?"

Sayo twitched, clamping down on that snide thought-comment that could almost be argued as the former norm for her. "Blicks..." she finally said after a moment.

If it was physically possible, the girl looked like she might have been floating. "My boyfriend works there!" Sayo raised an eyebrow. There were a lot of these art supplies stores in New York. Teddie elaborated. "Kelsey? Spiked hair, sometimes wears stupid blue contacts?"

Sayo blinked and then she nodded slowly. "Oh… I work his shift, usually."

Teddie nodded, a smirk on her face. "I thought so, I mean, he mentioned purple hair but everyone dyes their hair these days but you don't so." She stopped abruptly and caught herself, smiling again. "Anyway, we're going to study over at Bluestockings after our last class. Maybe he could give you a ride over?"

Sayo took a moment to stop and think about it. Her purple eyes followed each flake down to the concrete until there were too many to focus on. There was an easy answer, after all, the easy answer. Everyone knew it. And yet the other one, the soft, nearly non-committal answer of "okay".

The twitch of her nose almost gave away just how much that answer surprised them both. Of course, being a clearly bubbly individual helped with that and didn't keep her down for long. "Awesome! I'll let him know!"

Sayo wanted to ask the very obvious 'why me' but her clock was ticking down and she really couldn't stay so she hurried out the door, cheeks starting to flame up and eyes watering not from the cold. What the hell was she actually doing?

...

Four hours later, Sayo _still_ had no idea of what had just happened. She didn't go out. She didn't go with her classmates anywhere. She sat at home and did homework and exercised. She wasn't outgoing, she never had been.

 _At least you went places before._ Her mind, unfortunately, could be as snide to her as it was about everyone else. Darn that.

Besides, that was before, before death and destruction and pain before the really important mission. She was different from before, somehow. She had to be, surely. It wasn't like she deserved to be around those people anyway. For all they knew she was just an ally, an outsider. For all she knew, she was the same thing.

 _Won't bring her back to sit in your apartment all day,_ that mind voice reminded her. At least it sounded less snide this time. Was also much more realistic with her. Great. Thanks.

She went back to scanning the more expensive items on the shelves. People rarely bought them, herself included, but she liked looking at them. They were something she could dream of having one of these days. Her arm throbbed as she thought that. Sayo mentally corrected herself. Once she was done being Fate's chew toy to jerk around, anyway.

Her backpack shifted as the Wanyamon poked its… head? Body? Well, she could see its ears. Big amber eyes blinked at her from under the hood of the backpack.

"Mama," it said, loud and clear for her and the currently two other visible people in the store. "Food."

Sayo felt a chill run down her spine. Nope, that was definitely not her Dianamon. Not even at her youngest had her partner ever called her "Mama". Or any form of parental affection really. That was solely reserved for her egg mother, the now current Dianamon who patrolled the rivers and mountains of the Digital World. Did she know what happened to one of her eggs, she wondered? Considering Dianamon rarely gave out eggs, she had to. Sayo didn't want to think about that.

"Mama, food," they repeated in a now distinctly female voice, now that she was paying attention. "Want food."

Sayo frowned for a moment. "Uhm..." She couldn't exactly let the little one eat the paints. "Wait here." She signaled for her coworker to watch the register and went outside to the vending machine around the corner. When she returned, the little Digimon was perched on the counter, stubby tail waggling as the couple of patrons cooed at her.

"What a sweetheart," one of them said as she went back behind the counter. "So cute!"

The Wanyamon didn't seem to care, even as Sayo blushed to her ears, darkening her skin further as she opened the small bag of pretzels. She began to feed the little fellow, going back to scanning and swiping cards.

"Is he yours," asked a little girl.

"Obviously," said her sister.

Sayo didn't even get to correct them that the Wanyamon was probably a 'she', because the little fellow's whole body had fluffed up and it had made an angry face at the question. Sayo reached over and pet them, causing the fur to fluff back down. "No, Pete," she told them, the name slipping out as easy as a water spit take. "Be nice."

Wanyamon huffed and took another pretzel, but it seemed like the name had gone through without a hitch. It had made the children only coo louder of course, but you couldn't have everything.

About two hours later, Kelsey emerged from the back storage area, spikes of hair almost flat from the sweat. "Remind me to sock Barnes in the face if he doesn't show up tomorrow."

Sayo nodded, stacking up another box. "I'll help..." It was a lame offer but at some point anyone could take her up on it. She wouldn't blame them. Their coworker needed to stop canceling or just _quit_ before they got fired. It wasn't like the situation was there fault but still. He kept getting people into trouble.

Kelsey grinned at her. "Come on, let's finish closing up before I take you seriously. I heard you're coming out with us"

Sayo's lips twitched and pursed. She looked away. "Just for a bit..." Pete's ears shifted as she looked at Kelsey, eyes big and curious. Kelsey poked her, earning a wrinkled nose and a few hissing noises. Sayo snatched her before she could stop herself. "Don't tease her… she's a baby."

"Yes, mom." Kelsey waved a thin hand.

Sayo's face burned for a moment. She made herself go back to counting her drawer.

The marks shone beneath her sleeve and dug deeper into her skin, spreading ever so slightly.

She didn't notice, but Pete gave her hand an annoyed sniff. She smiled a little at the Digimon before looking away.

The bell clanged and Kelsey looked up before she could. "We're clos- oh it's you." Sayo looked up to see Koh, which wasn't too shocking, he came to to her job all of the time after hours for his boyfriend, and…

"Hikari-san?"

The young woman looked a bit sheepish. "Ah… hello."

There was some anime cliché somewhere in here, Sayo knew. She just wasn't sure what it was.

* * *

 **A/N:** Apologies for how delayed this has been but school took priority over this fic very fast but now that the big things are mostly done, I can focus on it some more again. Expect the updates to go to schedule now and please drop a review if you can. Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11: Brushing Fingertips

_warning for political commentary, relation to real world events, culture shock._

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: Brushing Fingertips** (Midnight)

 _December 4th, 2009_

The car ride to the bookstore was a mellow, mostly silent affair. After the havoc of the day, Hikari was glad for that. Her brain was still turning somewhere on another planet. The magnitude of what she was preparing to do, what would become from her little desire, could she even _do it_?

She shook her head. Of course she could. _They_ could.

Her eyes scanned the car again. Koh chatted with the driver in a low voice from the front seat. Sayo sat next to her, eyes looking at the New York traffic. (Tokyo and New York at least had the road congestion in common). She watched Sayo brown fingers stroke the Wanyamon's head in slow, near rhythmic finger touches. She wanted to smile. Tailmon purred sleepily in her lap, but her ears were up. After all, everything happened when you let your guard down. It was just an inevitability, surely.

There was something wrong with that thought, she knew, but she couldn't place it.

Hikari's foot brushed against the paper bag with her files and she swallowed, nerves trying to overtake her sanity once more. She made herself listen to Koh and the other person in the car, whose name she hadn't caught yet.

"I mean, all things considered, it's going to happen anyway," the other was saying. "Why bother trying to force the issue? It's like gun violence. The more people crack down on it, the more it happens."

Koh shook his head. "Well that's a no-brainer, but we need to mitigate the damage, Kelsey." He sighed. "I mean, if we don't, it'll make what happened the other day look like a kid knocked over their blocks."

"Yeah, but no one's gonna _listen_ ," Kelsey said. "The higher ups don't listen to anything unless there's a dollar sign and an up arrow."

"We still have to try," Koh argued. "You guys can't just walk away like we can."

Kelsey laughed. "Well, if we all had Digimon, we could. Or is it the Digivice?"

"It's complicated," Sayo finally interjected softly. "The Digital World can't give one to someone who doesn't really want to have one. Otherwise, the barriers would have been broken a decade ago, rather than poked."

"Broken?" Hikari's outburst caused the car to go quiet and she felt three pairs of eyes (one from the rearview mirror) latch on to her. She blushed. "I… I mean, Gennai-san said he deleted all information of the Digital World from databases for those first three years."

Koh made an irritated scoffing noise. "He did and it was the smartest thing he ever did after getting you all into the portal for the first time."

"When you first see something, you want to know everything about it immediately, if you're curious enough." Sayo braced herself at a turn as she spoke. "The second time, having been burned, you're more cautious. Usually. The third, you're simply reckless or overcautious. And that's where we are now."

Hikari thought about the summer of 2005. Tailmon touched her arm, smiling before she could stop herself. Hikari stroked the giant ears and thought of whispers in her school cafeteria, sneers and forum posts a mile long. "Mm."

"It's unfortunate, but that's the trend with intelligence." Kelsey grinned wryly, mussing his gelled spikes up as he paused at a stop light. "We forget the feeling of it all, sometimes."

"Still doesn't mean we should let everyone pay for the consequences of that," Koh muttered.

Kelsey pretended to glare. "That's not what I'm saying, carrot-boy."

"Was that really the best thing you could come up with?"

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Hikari heard Sayo murmur. She caught the other girl's eye. Sayo blushed and pointedly returned to looking out the window. Hikari giggled a little and went to look out the window as well. The snow had slowed tonight. She could even see through it.

"Hey, Hikari, right?"

Hikari jumped, took a moment, then exhaled. She really had to get used to that. Last name reference wasn't common, informality was pretty normal here. Still. "Yes…?"

"How are you liking New York?" Kelsey made another turn, likely looking for a parking space. "Everything you expected?"

"You can call it annoying, I usually do," Koh offered and Sayo made a noise like a snort. Wanyamon jumped and was hurriedly pet back down into snooze mode.

Hikari hid a giggle and thought for a while, searching for the right English words, ones that wouldn't be offensive, that would be aware or at least smart. When she thought of none, she gave up and said simply, "It's different. I don't really know what to think of it."

"She's been here barely a week," Sayo pointed out as they stopped entirely.

Kelsey unlocked their doors. "Well, miss foreign girl, it's about to get a long more 'different'." He seemed to gain a bounce to his step. "Welcome to Bluestockings."

Hikari could only stare at him, completely baffled. "O… kay?"

* * *

It took Sayo two hours to find Hikari in the bookstore, at which point she had gotten a new bag, two new books, and some cake shoved on her by Teddie for whatever reason. Pete kept trying to eat it, which failed miserably because he had no appendages to open the box with. So he failed to bite through the plastic, again, just as Sayo rounded the corner by a bookshelf. Hikari had her face buried into what looked like a graphic novel. Oh wait, manga. Crap. She'd spent too long in America.

"Hikari-san?"

Hikari jumped in her seat, the movement knocking Tailmon from her comfy lazing spot. Tailmon made a grumbling sound, ears pulled back, but made to take her new spot on Hikari's shoulder. _One day, her clothes might get ripped,_ Sayo couldn't help but think. Can't exactly retract those. "Are you okay?"

"I..." The other fumbled for a moment, hands fidgeting. "Yes, I… I think so, just a bit, well..." She licked her lips.

Sayo took pity on her. "A bit overwhelming?"

"Yeah." Hikari visibly deflated with relief. "Yeah, it is. I'm sorry..."

Sayo shook her head. That much PDA in one place? Seriously. There was a reason she wasn't sticking to the cafe. "It's new to you."

Hikari straightened to look her in the eye. "It, it's not a bad thing! I just-"

"Doesn't mean you're just going to be all right with it. You weren't raised here, with this, with any of this. Don't worry about it." Sayo held a hand out, noting this was the most she had said that was remotely like the word 'reassurance' in a long while. "Koh's ready to go. Would you like to walk with us?" Hikari blushed red right up to her ears and Sayo tilted her head. "Are… are you really all right, Hikari-san?"

"Well, yes. I only..." Hikari scratched her nose. "I, well… I'm not used to people seeing through me like this."

 _What does that mean?_

Before she could answer this question, Hikari had taken her hand and pulled herself up with it. "Will the walk be that long?" Sayo, broken from her thoughts, quickly shook her head. Hikari smiled a bit. "Then we should get going. Tailmon hasn't had dinner."

"Neither have you," muttered the cat.

Hikari giggled and Pete, now making her home again in Sayo's backpack, whined for food.

As they walked to the door, where Koh was texting, Sayo felt the warmth of Hikari's palm in hers.

She felt no urge to pull away.

* * *

To anyone outside that night, the air was bitterly cold, but that was normal. It was the beginnings of winter, no matter what the calendar said. However, to those passing by the Atlantic coast, they would see something very strange indeed. From the distance, it would seem like nothing more than a black dot. Seeing that, plenty of people would merely continue on their way. Others, however, would keep looking. Then they'd see something alarming: that dot was moving, and growing very close.

It wasn't very small.

Lucky for that dot, there was no one really paying attention, and so when it arrived close to shore, it landed there very quietly, shifting with the sickening cracks of broken bones into what looked like nothing more than a rat.

It scurried away.

* * *

In the safety of her lab, a young woman made a face at her laptop screen. "Really," she said to no one in particular. "Really. This is how this will go. Well, all right then."The woman set the tiny computer to the side and left the room, her form vanishing in a wash of iridescent light.

Two cats chased each other across the room in her absence, like nothing was wrong.

But that was just how cats did things. Think nothing of it.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ There will occasionally be a few chapters like this where I bring everyone together for a chapter, including some other characters we haven't seen through before. I found that would make this easier. Also the chapter count for this changed. I apologize for that. Oh well. Please leave a review you guys, it really means a lot to me.

Can we count the references to other parts of the fandom by the way? XD Let me know!


	12. Chapter 12: A Jack in the Box

**Chapter Twelve: A Jack in the Box** (Sunrise)

 _December 5_ _th_ _, 2009_

 _Brooklyn, New York_

Hikari found herself waking up on a sofa. It wouldn't be the first time she had fallen asleep on one, except well, this wasn't hers or Wallace's. She sat up and almost yelped in surprise at the sheet falling off of her body. It certainly woke Tailmon, who made a grumbling noise and hid her face closer to Hikari's stomach. Hikari couldn't help but giggle.

"What are you doing?" She finally stopped laughing when Tailmon pulled away from her with a disgruntled frown, her ears drooping.

"Sleeping. Or I was." Tailmon moved back to her perch on Hikari's shoulder, resigning herself to being wide awake. "That furball of your neighbor's wanted to play. She kept me awake trying to get your attention"

Hikari giggled again before she could display the right amount of sympathy. Then, looking around, she realized just where she was. This was not Wallace's apartment. Recognizing the swishing pale curtains of Furude-sa – Sayo and Koh's apartment.

"Morning," murmured a raspy voice. Hikari turned to the right and saw Koh, messy hair almost rivaling her brother's pre-haircut look in terms of pure bedhead alone. "You like eggs?"

Hikari's brain took a few minutes to actually comprehend the question. "Yes please."

"Good, cause I'm making eggs." He yawned and scratched his head. "Did Sayo leave for the bank already?"

"I just woke up," Hikari admitted. "She's been gone for a while I suppose."

Koh yawned again. "Probably why I stopped hearing squeaking baby Digimon." Tailmon grumbled something about that being a relief before she moved to follow him. Hikari watched with bemusement. Her partner had taken a liking to Koh for whatever reason (she was presuming it was good fish and intelligent opinions but she would never tell that to the world.) and Hikari didn't really mind Koh herself. Though, like with Sayo-chan, the eventual slip from last name to first happened a bit faster than she expected. Maybe it was the way their voices slipped in soft accents from speaking Japanese a long time before, or the methodical way they lived together without rubbing shoulders.

 _Maybe it was the warmth of Sayo's hand._

Whoa brain. Hikari blushed and shook her head. That was a step in a direction she didn't know her mind could go. Of course, saying 'it was just holding hands' was a fancy way of projecting denial which just proved her guilt. Then again, there was nothing to be guilty of, was there? It wasn't like it would go anywhere beyond that. She had no idea what beyond that looked like anyway, or if Sayo-chan was even interested in that sort of-

Koh set a plate of scrambled eggs with salt and pepper on the table next to her, followed by leftover rice balls. She blushed a bit again and moved to eat, embarrassment flooding her system for being that out of it.

"You were thinking pretty hard," he said after they had both at least taken a few bites. "Fifty yen-piece for your thoughts?"

"Isn't it supposed to be a penny?" she asked in an effort to not have to answer. His lips quirked and she flushed, busying herself with a piece of egg.

"My uncle always said fifty yen piece, Cause he had a lot in his pockets." Koh swallowed. "Think that was why. So, mind talking about it?"

Hikari paused to try and phrase it. How did you say something like this? "Uhm… how did you and your boyfriend get together, if you don't mind me asking?"

Koh blinked in surprise, almost dropped his rice ball. Then he picked it up again. "Well." He grunted. "Six months ago, his stupid butt wanted to go out for dinner, but he had no Earth money. So I had to cover him. He decided the best way to make up for it was to snog me in the toilets."

"Did you just say _snog?"_ Why her brain focused on that instead of the 'that's unsanitary' part or the 'kissing in general' part was beyond her. Maybe being in that bookstore had fiddled with her brain. In a good way. Theoretically.

Koh scoffed. "Kiss, _whatever_. Are you always this picky?"

"She has to learn English somehow," they heard Sayo murmur as she entered the apartment. "I've got chicken and fries."

Koh cheered outright, unknowingly giving Hikari the chance to school her face into something less embarrassing, or at least to try that.

And let Tailmon steal another rice ball, but no one was looking. So.

"It's good to know what I'm liked for, right Hikari-san?" Sayo was smiling. It was a light up your face kind of smile, one of those things that Daisuke liked coaxing out of her on rainy days. It made her face look so much more carefree.

Hikari swallowed a bit of food and laughed. "Yes, bringing the salt and carbs."

"I love her for so much more than that, I swear." He still leaped toward the greasy smelling bag anyway, pleasure all over him. "But frieessss~

Sayo mimed preparing to spill them on the floor and for a moment, Hikari had to look away. She didn't want to. The two of them were always so lively when it was just them and they forgot she was there. It was like Daisuke-kun and Miyako-san in a way. However, she was finding herself studying Sayo with an uncomfortable sort of intensity, and that was just plain rude.

Also Koh was looking at her for some reason, but she couldn't possibly guess what that was about.

…

Hikari paused outside her apartment door. She jiggled the handle and then paused again. "I locked up yesterday morning… didn't I Tailmon?" She kept her voice soft.

"You did," her partner confirmed just as quietly, big ears up. "Your key almost got stuck in the lock."

"Do you smell anyone in there?"

Before Tailmon could answer, the door opened from the inside. She came face to face with a woman's chest, literally. Said young woman was a head taller than her, some of her purple locks ( _lighter than Sayo's,_ she thought distantly, _and shorter_ ) twined around the hand not holding the doorknob. The thin line of her mouth softened slightly, but not by much.

"Oh, there you are," she said, quiet voice giving way to exhaustion. "I thought you would be gone all day, and on a weekend no less." The woman sighed. "Though I suppose that is an inclination of youth. I must get out more. Anyway, this is your apartment and I am intruding. If you come inside quickly, I will explain and then depart."

Tailmon hissed at the woman, both in alarm and likely defiance.

The woman only stared back, unmoved. "If you leave, I'll still be here when you return," she commented. "So I would recommend accepting listening to me now."

Tailmon made to leap but Hikari stepped forward. Not out of fear or brazen courage, not even out of a lack of options, but out of pure curiosity. If her door had been locked, this woman must have broken in somehow. If she found out how, she could warn Wallace for when he returned.

 _Also… why was she waiting for me?_

After all, if she was a thief, she could have stolen everything and left. Hikari had been gone all night and most of the morning. So she had another purpose here-

"Correct. I do." When Hikari jumped to cover her mouth, the woman shook her head. "I can hear the thoughts of people thinking about me. It's a mite annoying but I've learned to compensate." She settled back in one of the chairs, a steaming cup of green tea on a nearby coast. "Would you like some?"

Hikari nodded before she could stop herself. Soon she was sipping on it. It was a little sweet, but she paid that no mind and stared expectantly at the woman before her. Tailmon moved to her lap, both claws careful to avoid digging into Hikari's legs. That was never fun.

As the woman put her cup down to look at Hikari, Hikari had to take pause. _She doesn't have pupils._

"I haven't been able to fix that." The woman's lips twitched into a smile. "Yes, hearing people's thoughts about me is very irritating. It's why I don't go out much." She let out a sigh. "My name is Mikagura Mirei. You may know me currently as _Homeostasis._ "

The word shook the air for a moment, like a boom of thunder.

Hikari didn't know off of the top of her head, but Tailmon did, her blue eyes narrowing into slits. "You. You were the one who-"

"I did." Mirei shrugged. "I performed the reboot. At the time, it was the most necessary course of action."

"You possessed me." Hikari shivered. There was a godly presence drinking tea across from her that had reset an entire world. "You caused the reboot. You caused our friends to forget who we were."

"I did." Mirei nodded slowly. "It was an unfortunate consequence, one I'd rather not repeat. Factory reset are burdensome on me at best."

"Why would you possess me if you could appear like this?" Hikari decided to just move the topic away before Tailmon's claws dug any deeper. "Sure you could have-"

"I could not." Mirei waved a hand outside. "Your world does not allow me to exist normally. Because of the state of your part of the universe, when the balance is safe, I cannot enter. But it is rapidly falling apart. A reboot is now a possibility." She sipped her tea. "And that is why I am here with you, Yagami Hikari-san."

She put her mug down. "You see, Furude Sayo committed a great sin. I am here to ask you to help her purify it. Or there will be another reboot. This time, I cannot promise your partners will survive the encounter in any way, shape or form."

"A sin?" Hikari's fingers latched onto her D-3. "What kind of sin?"

"The Seven Demon Lords were murdered in these past couple of human years, including the one you would know as Demon."

Hikari felt a chill run down her spine. "But… how would that be a sin?"

Mirei let out a heavy, dark sigh. "If there is no darkness, light cannot shine. Surely you recall this. Why else would more evil come forth for you of the light to vanquish it? Now, a great evil is coming, and she will need help to stop it. I believe that help is you, Child of Light. Just as the master of the Dark Ocean must."


	13. Chapter 13: A Bloody Checker Set

**Chapter Thirteen: A Bloody Checker Set** (Moonrise)

 _December 5th, 2009_

 _Manhattan_ _, New York_

Sayo had never owned a dog. She'd had a dog Digimon, before the Gaogamon got too big to just lounge around her house all day and didn't want to devolve anymore. But she'd never had a dog. Pete was determined to be that dog by the looks of things. Thankfully, she was housebroken and lacked paws. She got into just as much trouble as other dogs though, which in its own way was exasperating somehow. Digimon pooped differently, they ate more, and the smell they gave rarely required a bath unless they so desired it. Which was basically whenever she wanted one. So, very inconvenient. She had to deal with that somehow. One way or another.

Of course for the most part, this was tolerable. These days, there were enough Digimon around, partnered and not, that poop bags durable enough to survive the drops were everywhere, and there were capsules of what amounted to digimon kibble. Then again, this was New York, the testing ground for stupid ideas. It was only normal for this to happen.

That didn't mean having Pete sitting in her backpack all day was ideal because it wasn't, really. She was in the shedding phase, which meant blue and white fur went everywhere and she was twitching every five seconds on Sayo's books. It would honestly be easier to just let Koh take care of her. The second Sayo considered that thought, Pete would make every possible effort to make her way into Sayo's lap. It was like the creature was telepathic. Or intuitive. Like Dianamon.

Sayo sighed to herself, the noise barely audible in the clacking and humming of the computers. Come to think of it, that was probably why Pete was so eager to be around and about. Computers and Digimon had a bit of a complex relationship. It wasn't one even she understood despite living there. She patted her back down onto her lap and went back to her mouse. No tablets today. Someone had lost the key to the storage room again. Probably a good thing. Last thing she needed was Pete chewing up a wire. Pete settled and for a while, all she had to think about was the image on screen and the constant presses of undo.

As she saved it, almost an hour later, someone swore at their monitor. She craned her head and closed her processor. Then another voice swore.

"Who the hell tried letting their Digimon in the computer again?"

No one looked at Sayo. She had been there to see what happened to Digimon with Windows 8. But it wasn't from Pete. Pete's already big yellow eyes were twice their size as he looked to the sound of the cursing.

Then a single large eyeball appeared on every screen, a comical and heavy shade of red in the iris. Said iris swiveled about on the screen before it locked on the face of every human. Then, one screen at a time, it narrowed.

Sayo yanked out her USB drive and ran, just in time for something to smash into the opposite wall. She thought she heard someone scream and couldn't quite care. If she cared, she would turn back and that… that simply couldn't happen.

Her arm was burning. Pete had started to squirm. She raised her burning arm to pet her. "It's okay," she soothed. "We'll get out of here. It's okay."

Honestly, she'd just been doing her job. She'd just been doing her job and stopping them, why in the name of the goddess was this happening to her _now_?"

"We're necessary for balance, you know?"

"We keep the world turning, you see. There are always vices."

"Always."

"Always."

"I wouldn't have done it if you had stuck to indirect interference, instead of active destruction," she muttered, wincing in pain.

"But that is in our nature." Lucemon was ever mercurial. "Even using pieces, we move to the will of sin and the will to sin. In that end, is that not why you pursued us?"

"I pursued you because you led to thousands of slow and painful deaths, a tanking of morale and more than enough other problems."

Lucemon laughed and it was louder somehow. "Well, at least you didn't say it was 'because you had to do it"."

The world washed gray over her eyes for a brief moment. And she saw someone else, a boy that became a tentacled monster. A boy that looked so pitying and knwing and scared.

"Sayo, please," he pleaded. "I don't blame you, no one blames you!"

 _I do,_ Lucemon chimed. You didn't even think to ask.

Sayo ignored him, ignored everything, including the awful, heartless voice.

 _Come,_ it whispered.

Come hither. Fall to the memories of the lost past. Destroy all that is good about yourself. It must not be good enough.

At another time, Sayo would have scoffed at the melodrama. Meanwhile, Pete just whined all the louder. On another day she would have let the little one loose, let the tiny child do what it did best and fight, as little ones are wont. But she did not, because she, most importantly had no idea what they were fighting in the slightest. And that meant more danger than she was willing to expose herself to at the moment.

"I can't," Sayo insisted softly, sternly. "Because you don't know that, Dagomon. You _don't_. I don't know that, but I do know this guy will get at people I walk to class near to make me squirm and that's important! I don't want them to die because of me."

"They won't." Pete opened her mouth and yawned at her, somehow there despite the Dark Ocean's existence just popping up from nowhere. The cat-head rubbed at her hands as the little boy squirmed in front of her. There was guilt there, for some reason, something she couldn't put her finger on but-

 _Boom._

It was a quiet explosion, for something that rocked the entire foundation of this part of her school campus. The pressure bursting out threw her onto wet scraped off grass and into the nearest snow pile as fire licked and snaked into the air, the smoke bursting out in great black clouds.

 _Too late_ , Lucemon chirped gleefully in her ears. _You were too late, so late, too bad! Look what you've done._

Sayo wanted to run forward, seeing the destruction through a drenched beach, and the Dark Ocean faded as Pete pushed her back and everything faded into wisps melting with pain, with the raw heat of the flames. Sayo struggled for words and breath, hoping and praying for her cell phone to magically appear in her hands. When it did not, she screamed. All of Pete's furs stood on end as the horrible sound seemed to break the sound barrier, pulsing and undulating until Sayo had no voice left and was just a ball of soaked flesh and fabric on the grass. This was what Yagami Hikari made it over to see, Tailmon on one shoulder and fire truck sirens wailing much too far away.

Sayo didn't notice, but Pete did. Pete began to glow the second Hikari reached them, throwing her arms around Sayo like she absolutely needed to do it without question. She might have.

Sayo didn't notice the oversized head and small body in her lap where Pete had been. But Hikari did.

Sayo didn't notice anything for the rest of the day and even into the night.

…

Mirei, as keeper of the Balance, as _stability itself_ , could only watch from this point. Communication was difficult quite normally, for reasons she, in this form could not comprehend. Outside of it it was relatively irrelevant, but still. It could almost be considered frustrating.

All those humans, all of their creations, caught in the flames of revenge.

If she had been able to hear Lucemon, she unfortunately would have had to agree. Sayo was too late. She was too late to regret, too late to understand and comprehend in the way the demons wanted. She had her own ways. She was too late for a whole lot of things but saving her own skin, objectively speaking.

That said, she wasn't too late to create this miracle. The child of darkness had its place, much as the demon lords had their own. It was in the demon lords nature, in the nature of sin, to exist, as far as she knew.

She ran a finger over her tea cup and watched a singular point on one side of her metaphysical quarters. Her cats needed somewhere to steal tuna fish to after all. She waved

Mirei sighed out loud to an empty room, to a room bathed in light so even the most obvious shadow should be obscured. All but her own, of course. "You can come out, young representative."

Small, cautious footsteps formed seemingly from nowhere. But then they slowed. Mochizuki Meiko regarded her with worried, sorrowful eyes, hair tied up in a bun for sleep. Meicoomon sat in her arms, fright and fury etched into her features.

"This is the first time we've met, isn't it?" Mirei leaned on her hand once more. "Chosen of Tenacity."

Meiko swallowed. "Where… where am I?"

"Sleeping, likely. That's what I try to do. I don't tend to be that lucky." She waved her free hand and a spare chair burst into existence. "Please, sit. I merely wish to talk."

Meiko's fingers tightened around her partner, but she settled and obediently sat.

Mirei smiled. It was not a happy expression. "You are aware of the powers you hold, correct?"

Meiko looked at her. "Who are you?"

 _I love when I get wary intelligence. They trip over themselves._ "You and yours know who I am," she replied, watching the way her eyes widened behind the thick frames. "I am looking for a way to avoid a reboot. And I think you are one of the people who will be of some assistance."

"Why?"

Mirei laughed. "Because I do. And there is one other. You have the best way of contacting him. I'm sure Motomiya Daisuke would like to see an old friend again."


End file.
